Fate or Chance
by quickbunny01
Summary: Prequel to 'To Belong' Starts from the first day Bella arrives at the castle and tells about all the years she spend with the Volturi before being sent to Forks. Co-written by sleepyseven. AU OOC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This story is being co-written by the amazing sleepyseven you can find links to her on my profile page. I hope that all my readers from To Belong have found your way here and enjoy the story that sleepy and I have come up with for you!! You would make our day if you took a minute to review the story and let us know what you think so far!**

**We don't own Twilight!  
**

Fate or Chance

Prequel to 'To Belong'

I felt slightly guilty as I slipped out of the hotel room. My mother and stepfather would be furious if they discovered that I went out by myself but they had no reason not to trust me. I may only be fourteen but I was far more responsible than Renee. If it wasn't for me then the bills would never get paid and she would forget to eat half of the time. Phil had made a huge difference in her since he had entered our lives; he balanced her somehow, leveled her out a little.

I was being banished to Virginia to live with my father in the fall so Renee could travel with Phil during the baseball season and this was a farewell gift of sorts. I'd always wanted to see Italy so when Phil offered I had quickly agreed. Who knew if I would ever get this opportunity again?

We'd been here for three days and although I loved my mother and Phil I really wanted to explore Volterra alone. I didn't see the harm in it as long as I stayed close to the hotel and made it back to my room by ten when they would be back to check on me. I was surprised that my faking a stomachache had worked since I was such a terrible actress but they fell for it easily.

The sun was just starting to set as I stepped onto the sidewalk and looked around for what I should do first. I really wanted to see the _Piazza Dei Priori _so I started toward the tower I could see over the roofs of the neighboring buildings, being careful not to trip on the cobblestones under my feet.

Almost as soon as I stepped foot in the square a beautiful woman with the oddest violet eyes approached me with a large group of other tourists and introduced herself as Heidi, she asked if I wanted to join them in a tour of Volterra Castle. My face flushed with excitement as I nodded enthusiastically. I could have sworn that I heard the woman growl lowly but ignored it thinking it must have been a nearby dog. Tours of the castle were given by invitation only. Phil had asked our travel agent about it when we were planning our trip and I was disappointed to learn that I wouldn't be able to see inside the beautiful building.

I joined the rest of the group quickly and we started toward the castle. I paused for a moment remembering that I wasn't supposed to be out of the hotel room and now I would have to tell Renee and Phil that I had gone out without them but shook my head and started forward again. They would understand that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I might be grounded and not let out of their sight for the rest of the trip but I could live with that.

Heidi led us through the beautiful ornate doors and down countless hallways pointing out paintings and striking sculptures. She left us briefly saying that she had to take a phone call and would be right back. I took my time looking around the circular room we were waiting in. The cool stone floors were worn smooth from centuries of use and the tapestries hanging on the walls were all done in burgundies and black and all seemed to have the same somber feeling about them. I was starting to feel uneasy when I looked at my watch and realized that it was already after nine.

I made my way back toward the door and waited just to the side. I had decided that I would tell Heidi that I had to return to my hotel when she came back in. I would have left on my own but I didn't think that I could remember my way back out. My feeling of unease seemed to spread throughout the room as the minutes passed and I could hear people whispering in different languages, the few I could hear that were speaking English were saying that they wished they hadn't came on the tour.

After another ten minutes had passed the whispers had grown into panicked conversations. Finally the door opened again and Heidi stepped in followed by three men in black robes and four people in dark grey robes. Before I could open my mouth to tell her that I wanted to leave she started speaking.

"You have the great honor to meet the rulers of Volterra and a few members of their guard."

"Yes, welcome guests to Castle Volterra." The black haired man spoke in a cheerful voice before smiling at us and revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.

Now the panic and fear was running rampant and the group of tourist were all pressing themselves back into the room, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the new arrivals as possible. I looked at them and felt terror wash over me. I wasn't going to make it out of this room alive.

One of the men in the dark grey robes smiled dangerously at me. Despite my growing dread I couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. His long blond hair was tied back revealing odd reddish-black eyes and a perfectly chiseled face. I stared at him in awe for a moment. He winked at me.

"Hello little one, don't you look delectable?" He purred at me as he looked me up and down like a piece of meat. "Don't worry; I'll be back for you in a moment."

I dropped to the floor and hugged my knees to my chest desperately hoping that they would forget about me. I tried not to look when the screaming started but I couldn't help myself.

There was a little girl next to me; she had her robe thrown back over her shoulder to keep it out of her way. I watched in abject horror as she grabbed a grown man and threw him to the floor before narrowing her eyes at him. The man screamed like he was in intense pain. Maybe she had broken something when she slammed him down. But then he stopped and just looked up at her.

"Kill me please." He begged before he started screaming again.

"As you wish." She chuckled as she bit into his neck.

Blood gushed over her face and onto the floor as the man thrashed and tried to pull her off him. My view was thankfully obstructed by another black robe. I couldn't breathe as I looked up to see who my killer would be. It was the black haired man who had spoken to us.

"Fear not little one, I will make it painless." He cooed as he reached down and took my hand.

I closed my eyes and waited for death to come. After a few moments I noticed the silence and sighed in relief. He really had made it painless. I opened my eyes to see what I would face next and was met with the same man staring at me oddly. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Why wasn't I dead? I glanced around the room and my stomach lurched violently. All of the people I had come in with were thrown about the room. Each of them with their throats ripped open and blank eyes staring at the ceiling. Heidi and the rest of the monsters were all watching us peculiarly.

"Aro?" Another man in a black robe questioned.

"I cannot read her." Aro said, still looking at me in awe.

I pressed myself back into the wall again and tried to pull my hand free.

"Do not worry little one. You are very unique and nothing will harm you here." He said softly.

I studied him for a moment before looking at the rest of the vampires in the room. Yes, I know it's insane but that was the only thing I could think of that would describe them. They were all looking at me in disbelief and annoyance, especially the blond who had called me delectable.

I turned back to Aro and eyed him warily. "How do I know you aren't just saying that?"

He laughed. "Trust me _mia dolce_, if I were going to kill you then you would be dead by now."

I stared into his milky red eyes for another moment before sighing. It didn't matter if he was lying or not, if he was just saving me until later then there was nothing I could do but if I was a unique as he said I was maybe if I cooperated with him then I might stand a chance of getting away.

"Fine, why am I so unique?"

Aro chuckled. "Jane."

I glanced around and noticed the girl had stepped forward again. She smiled sweetly at me for a moment then seemed to get irritated. The longer she looked at me the harder she screwed her eyes up.

"I'm sorry but what is wrong with her?" I asked curiously.

The room burst into laughter. They all seemed to be amused that the girl couldn't achieve whatever she was trying to do.

"Do not worry Jane dear, I cannot reach here either." Aro soothed. "What is your name dear one?"

"Isabella Swan, Bella."

"Well Isabella, I am afraid that you will have to stay with us for now. Go with Heidi, she will take you to your room and get you anything that you need." Aro explained.

I cringed away from Heidi when she tried to take my hand. She huffed in irritation and gave me an appraising look.

"You'll need some new clothes, what size are you?" She asked, with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Thank you but I don't plan on being here long enough to need new clothes."

She just laughed and shook her head at me.

After walking what felt like miles she finally stopped in front of a door and gestured for me to open it. I pushed open the door and gasped. The pale blue walls shimmered softly in the light, like there was glitter mixed into the paint. The dark wood of the furniture contrasted perfectly against the paint. Besides the bed and other usual bedroom furniture there was a sitting area with a large leather sofa surrounded by bookcases facing a glowing fireplace.

"The bathroom is through that door;" Heidi pointed to a door on my right "and that one is the closet. It's empty right now but I'll find you something to wear until I can go shopping tomorrow."

"I told you I don't plan on being here that long." I snapped. For some reason I didn't feel like she would hurt me. Of course I have been told that I trust to easily. "My parents will be worried. They'll have everyone out looking for me."

Again she laughed. "You'll just have to talk to Aro about that tomorrow. I suggest you try and get some sleep." She said before leaving the room.

As soon as the heavy door closed I collapsed on the sofa and sobbed desperately. I knew that I would never see my family again. Just because they hadn't killed me tonight didn't mean they wouldn't kill me tomorrow or next week or next month. It was only a waiting game now. I cried until there were no more tears left and finally fell into a troubled sleep lying face down on the leather sofa.

"Wake up little human." A soft voice spoke in my ear as someone shook my shoulder.

I grumbled for a moment before remembering where I was. I shot up off the couch and away from the women kneeling next to it.

"Don't worry, I've been told that you've somehow managed to get Aro to like you. I won't go against my master so you're perfectly safe. I'm Victoria, you can call me Vicky." She held out her hand.

I stared at her in shock before numbly shaking her hand. Her skin was freezing and I jumped slightly when my warm hand met hers. I hadn't noticed last night if any of the others were as cold as her.

"Bella." I mumbled.

"Well Bella, Heidi sent you some clothes for the day. You need to get dressed; the brothers are waiting for you in the throne room."

I assumed that 'the brothers' were the three that were wearing the black robes last night. I took the clothes she handed me and went into the bathroom. I barely noticed the elaborate marble room I was in. Dazedly I took in the giant tub that was sunk into the floor and the equally huge shower next to it. I looked at myself in the mirror over the intricately carved marble sink and cringed. My hair was knotted beyond belief, I had dark circles under my eyes and my face was splotchy and red from crying all night. I brushed my teeth with the new toothbrush that was lying on the countertop and brushed my hair with the brush I found in a drawer then splashed water on my face. I didn't even bother looking at my reflection again before I finished up in the bathroom and went back into the bedroom. If they were going to eat me then I wasn't going to take pains making myself look decent for them.

Victoria looked slightly disapproving of my still messy appearance but didn't say anything about it.

"Would it be alright if I carried you? We would get there so much faster."

I snorted. She thought I was in a hurry to get to my death? "I think I'll walk thanks."

She rolled her eyes but led me into the hallway. I didn't pay any attention to where we were going but I walked as slowly as I could; Victoria sighing and shooting me annoyed looks the whole way. I finally looked up when she stopped in front of a set of doors. I started trembling and fell to the floor clutching my knees to my chest.

"Oh." Victoria said after a moment. "You have to go through the feeding room to get to the throne room. I'll carry you alright." She finished, gently lifting me from the floor.

By the time I realized what had happened she was knocking on another door and stepping inside the room. I pulled away from her and struggled to get down. After giving me an exasperated look she set me on my feet.

"Good morning Isabella, I trust you slept well." Aro said merrily, smiling at me.

I glared at him. I wasn't going to make things easy for them by playing the obedient slave or hostage or whatever it was they wanted from me.

Aro arched his eyebrow at me and looked me up and down. "Heidi, she will need clothing."

"Yes master, I was planning on going today." Heidi spoke from somewhere to my left.

I looked around the room and saw all the vampires that had been in the 'feeding room' last night and a few others. All of them were wearing robes in varying degrees of grey.

"I am sure that you have a lot of questions and we have some for you as well so come and sit." Aro offered, holding his hand out to me as if he thought I would take it.

I walked past his offered hand and sat in the chair he'd indicated.

He chuckled lightly. "My dear girl, you are unique." He swept past my chair and sat on a throne between his 'brothers'. "Where are you from?" He asked politely.

"Phoenix. Why am I here?"

"You are here because I cannot read your mind." He answered as if it were obvious. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen. What are you?"

"We are vampires but I am sure that you have already figured that out." He smirked at me.

"Then why was Heidi out in the sun yesterday?"

The entire room burst into laughter.

"Ah of course, you should not believe everything you see in movies and read in books. The sun does not harm us, garlic and crosses do not repel us and wooden stakes crumble when they meet our stone skin." Aro explained.

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked after the laughter died down.

"You will live here of course. We cannot allow you to leave now that you know our secret and I find you too interesting to kill."

"How long will I have to stay here? My parents will be worried."

"I am sorry dear girl but you will not be able to see your parents ever again." He almost looked sorry as he spoke.

I launched myself out of the chair and slapped him across his face as hard as I could. I felt my wrist snap and screamed in pain and fury as I continued to lash out at him, hitting any part I could reach. Two sets of iron arms closed around me and dragged me off Aro who was looking at me with the oddest expression.

"Master, what should we do with her?" One of my captures asked, looking at me with a mixture of pity and awe.

"She is not to be harmed. Can you imagine what she will be like when she is one of us?" Aro said, still looking at me in wonder. "Make sure her arm is taken care of and see to any other injuries she has inflicted upon herself. James go and help them."

I was dragged from the room and noticed the blond from the night before walking in front of us.

After I had been drug down several hallways James turned to snicker at me. "A little human pet, how charming."

Fury blazed through me. I no longer felt any fear from any of them. They all seemed to fear Aro and I didn't think they would cross him. Besides if I had no opportunity of getting out of here I wasn't going to spend whatever time I had left cowering in fear.

"Upset you didn't get your snack last night?" I sneered.

He growled but turned back around. The two that were carrying me laughed at their friend. The big one that looked like a football player laughed loudest before taunting James.

"Better watch out James, I think she might be able to take you. Did you see how hard she hit Aro?"

"Shut up Felix." James snarled.

Felix was looking at me as if he'd just gotten a new toy. "I'm Felix and this is Demetri. That of course is James. I think we're going to have a lot of fun Bella." He smiled at me.

I looked over at Demetri who sighed "Felix, give her a break. She's only a child and she's had a rough couple of days. Save your pranks and jokes." Demetri looked at me pityingly. "How does your arm feel Bella?"

I frowned at him before looking down at my right wrist. It was swollen and turning a sick purplish color, I winced when I tried to move it. "It hurts like hell." I hissed.

Felix and Demetri chuckled and looked down at me fondly. I felt safe with them for some reason. James on the other hand I wanted to smack if he looked down his nose at me again.

"Felix, you'd better run to the hospital and get what we'll need to put a cast on her. I'll get her wrist iced and see if I can get the swelling to go down some." Demetri said as he helped me into my room and onto the sofa. I moaned when he gently probed my hand to see if there were any other broken bones. "You'd better get her something for the pain as well." He frowned down at me worriedly.

I looked at him gratefully as I tried to sit up straighter. James had flopped down on the bed and was eyeing me wickedly.

"Will you be alright while I get her some ice James?" Demetri asked skeptically.

"Oh we'll be fine, I'm sure we're going to become great friends." James answered sarcastically.

"I'll be right back Bella." Demetri reassured me before leaving the room so fast that he blurred before my eyes.

"I'm can't imagine what it is that Aro finds so interesting about you. You seem like any other human who has ever entered this castle." James said condescendingly.

I just glared at him and tried to ignore his petty comments.

"I wonder how long it will take before he loses interest and lets me drain you?" He mused to himself, once again eyeing me like a piece of meat.

"Why don't you go and ask him. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know that you're thinking of his new 'pet' as food." I shot back.

He glared at me but didn't say anything else. Demetri was back within a matter of minutes holding an ice pack and a large glass of water.

"Has anyone gotten you anything to eat?" He asked gently.

I shook my head. "No, but I really don't think I could eat anything right now."

"Well if you do get hungry just let someone know."

I nodded in agreement and placed the icepack gingerly on my wrist. Before long Felix returned carrying an armful of medical supplies. He handed me a bottle of painkillers and told me to take two. I swallowed them gratefully closed my eyes as they started to work on my arm.

Thirty minutes later I had a new pink cast and was smiling goofily at my apparent newfound friends. Felix was having the time of his life watching me try and walk to the bathroom. Just as I tripped over my own feet and was sure I was about to meet the floor someone caught me and placed me upright. I looked around expecting to see Demetri but instead found James smiling at me evilly.

"I don't like my meals to be all bruised up, it takes away from taste."

I rolled my eyes at him and kept my newly casted right hand on the wall as I entered the bathroom. When I was finished and came back into the bedroom Demetri and Felix were still there but James was gone. I stared at them thoughtfully for a moment.

"You know it's too bad James is such an asshole, he's so…beautiful." I mused to myself, honestly not realizing that I was speaking out loud.

Demetri and Felix gave each other a sly look.

"You don't say." Felix asked, grinning like he'd just won the lottery.

"Yeah…"

Before I could finish my sentence I swayed dangerously and Demetri caught me before I could collapse.

"Go on Felix, I'm sure Aro wants to be kept informed about Bella's condition."

Felix nodded and waved to me before leaving the room.

"Bella, I'll stay with you if you'd like. I know you must still be frightened."

"Thank you Demetri, I think I'll take a nap." I told him still smiling goofily at him.

He helped me into bed then took a book of one of the shelves and sat down on the sofa. Almost as soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.

**JPOV **

I let the door slam behind me, this was fucking ridiculous. Who cares if Aro can't read her? She's just a human and if we aren't going to change her into a vampire then all she's good for is dinner. That attitude of hers is going to test my patience, I just know it.

"Yo, James! Wait up."

I could hear Laurent jogging to catch up with me. I contemplated ditching him just for the fun of it, that guy runs so slow, even for a vampire.

"So, what's up with the human?" He lifted his eyebrows with excitement; everyone was interested in the girl. She was like the new shiny toy tossed into a pit full of wolves.

"I don't know. The orders are that no one in the castle is to harm her and if anyone loses their control then anyone nearby is to restrain them and toss 'em in the dungeon."

Laurent's eyebrows went even higher.

"The dungeon?"

"Yeah, but it won't be permanent or anything. Just until they can feed and calm down."

We approached the dining room and I could hear the murmur of voices coming through the walls. I pushed the doors open and a hush fell over the room.

"Alright, everyone heard the new rules right?"

I rubbed my eyes with the palm of my hands, even after hundreds of years of immortality I could still imagine what a headache felt like.

Everyone nodded or said yes thankfully, so I wouldn't have to explain again.

"Alright then, everyone can go about their business then."

The room exploded into conversation, everyone trying to get their two cents in about our new 'pet'. Who was she? Why didn't Aro's or Jane's powers work on her? Why had Aro allowed her to live after the way she'd acted in the throne room? She smelled really tasty….

That was the truth. When I'd walked into the feeding room she'd been the first thing I could smell. Sweet and delectable, my mouth had filled with venom at the thought of sinking my teeth into her. If only I hadn't been so slow. I'd been keeping her for last, my desert, but Aro got there first.

I had just finished up the Japanese tourist and was about to head over to the girl when Aro had stepped in my way. It was frustrating to watch him just staring at her. If it had been anyone else I would have knocked them to the floor and sunk my teeth in.

Instead I was now ordered to babysit the little bitch. Did she have any idea just how lucky she was? No one, absolutely NO ONE had ever entered the feeding room as dinner and made it out alive. Now she was going to live in the lap of luxury as Aro's little experiment and she had the audacity to slap him? Special or not I would have bit her head off if she'd come at me like that.

A slender hand slid over my shoulder and snaked its way down towards my waist. I caught it around the wrist and squeezed tightly.

"Oh James, you know how I like it when you're rough."

I tossed Cassandra's arm away like it was a poisonous snake, this girl just didn't know when to give up.

She came around to the front of the chair and sat in my lap, wiggling slightly and leaning into my chest.

"Is it true, we have to keep this stupid little_ human_ safe?" She spat the word like it tasted bad in her mouth.

"Yup, it's true." I stood up, letting her fall to the floor with a thud.

Cassandra huffed and stood up while brushing herself off. She was in her usual 'slut couture' as the other girls called it. A low cut pink sweater that was a size too small and black pants that were just as tight. It was those types of pants that stop just after the knees. I don't understand woman's clothes, what the hell is the point of wearing pants that are too short?

"You can drop cocky asshole act James, I know you want me." She pushed her breasts against me and purred in my ear. We had a small audience now. Everyone knows I can't stand Cassandra and she just wouldn't get it through her thick skull.

"It's not an act honey." Victoria had stepped up next to us and was laughing at Cassandra's pathetic attempt to seduce me.

"Come on James, we have patrol tonight."

I gratefully followed Victoria out of the dining room, leaving Cassandra alone in the corner for everyone to laugh at.

"That girl wants you bad. Why don't you just give it to her? You've slept with plenty of other girls you didn't really like."

"It's the principal of the matter. Those other woman weren't stupid."

Victoria laughed at my joke and hopped up into an open window.

"I'll take the North side, you head south and we'll meet in the middle yeah?"

I nodded in agreement and was about to follow her through the window when Felix walked into me.

"Hey Jimmy boy, where ya headed?"

He was smiling the evil grin he got when he was planning something.

"I'm on patrol tonight, so you're going to have to wait if you have something planned."

"Oh no no… I was just curious. We're buds right? And buds look out for each other!"

Felix's grin got even wider, I was seriously worried now.

"So, that new girl… Bella. She's pretty hot huh."

I eyed Felix suspiciously. Bella was a pretty girl but not Felix's type at all. He preferred girls with a little more meat on their bones.

"Uh, yeah, she's cute." I hopped into the window and leaned against the edge, waiting to see what Felix really wanted.

"Well anyway, I better get going. I've got guard duty for the brother's."

Felix took off down the hallway and left me completely confused.

I ran along the tall walls of the castle heading south towards the plaza, keeping to the shadows and looking for any threats. There never were any, but that didn't mean we could slack off.

My mind wandered back to Felix and then to Bella. She was pretty. Her slender frame and big brown eyes had caught my attention the first second I saw her. But she is just a baby, and human. I could see Victoria up ahead, and forced myself to focus. I couldn't let that little girl interfere with my duties.

She was going to make my life difficult, I could feel it already.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sleepyseven here.. Thanks for checking out the story! I hope all of you loyal Quickbunny fans don't hate me for intruding on the story but fear not.. I only write James POV. I am doing this because I too loved 'To Belong' , it was like a action packed version of Cinderella with a super hot vampire hehe… please be kind and leave a review! Let us know if you are enjoying this or if it makes you want to vomit. I promise to send either a cookie or some pepto either way. -sleepy

Chapter 2

BPOV

I woke up and looked around groggily. The panic was only fleeting this time when I remembered where I was. I winced when I lifted my right hand to push my hair out of my face. I glared angrily at the pink cast. It was by no means the first cast I'd ever had but it was the first pink one. I wondered if Felix thought I would want pink because I was a girl and giggled.

"You're awake."

I jumped at the voice and it took my eyes a moment to focus on Demetri still sitting on the sofa.

I smiled slightly and nodded.

"Are you hungry?"

"A little." I replied. I wanted something to make my wrist stop throbbing but I could remember what the pills had done to me and I wanted to be coherent for a few hours at least.

"I'll be right back." He said smiling as he stood up.

A few minutes later as I was coming back out of the bathroom there was a knock on the door. Well that was new; no one had bothered to knock before. I hobbled over on still shaky legs and swung the door open. Aro was standing there looking at me expectantly. I arched my eyebrow at him before turning my back and walking over to the bed. He entered behind me chuckling.

"Do you realize what would have happened to anyone else that had acted the way you did this morning?"

I looked up at him and gave him my best I'm bored/I don't really care look. I was a teenager and they seemed to come naturally to me. Anger flashed briefly across his face.

"I want you to trust me Isabella. I think you will enjoy your new life here once you stop acting like a petulant child. You will have everything you want and you will be protected. Once you get a little older we will change you into one of us."

"You want to make me like you? I don't remember saying that I wanted to become a vampire!" I shouted.

"Your only other choice is death. I would hate to lose someone as unique as you but we do still offer a choice." He retorted, finally letting a hint of anger enter his voice.

My tough façade crumbled. "I'm really never going to see them again am I?" I whispered, trying to keep the tears back.

Aro sighed and sat down next to me on the bed. "No you are not. But you will heal and your pain will fade. You must be strong. I have told you what your choices are, leaving is not one of them. I am already very fond of you Isabella, I think we could have a very close relationship if you will let go of your anger. If it had been one of my brothers or a member of the guard that had gotten to you first then you would already be dead. I have spared your life. Think about that."

I waited until he left the room before burying my face in the pillows and letting my pent up tears fall. Ten minutes later Demetri and Felix came back with my food and found me still sobbing on the bed. Demetri rushed over and asked what was wrong and Felix looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I'm never going to leave here. My family and friends, I'm never going to see them again." I wailed into Demetri's icy shoulder. He ran his hand soothingly up and down my back and I was grateful to have someone who didn't seem to hate me or want to eat me to lean on.

"I'm sorry Bella. You don't yet realize how lucky you are. This has never happened before. The brothers have never let a human live after they have learned our secret; they are always either turned or killed. I know it's difficult right now but it'll get better."

"We brought you some food." Felix offered and I couldn't help but giggle at the way he was eying the plate as if it was going to attack him and holding as far away from as he could.

"That's so sweet of you guys. Thanks for everything you've done for me." I smiled shyly up at them.

"You're our little sister now and no one will mess with you as long as I'm around." Felix said, puffing out his chest and flexing his muscles.

I laughed and Demetri rolled his eyes as he handed me the plate of food. I was starving so I dug in without really even paying attention to what I was eating.

"So…you think James is beautiful huh?" Felix grinned.

I choked on a piece of bread that I was chewing.

"What?!" I managed to gasp out.

"Yeah, this morning you said something about it being too bad that James is such an asshole because you thought he was beautiful." Felix laughed.

"Well, this morning I was high and had just received the news that I would never see my family again." I mumbled, already falling back into my depression. "Look guys, I really do appreciate everything you've done for me but unless you've been ordered to drag me somewhere else I think I'd like to be alone for awhile."

"Of course Bella; just let us know if you need anything. My room is right down the hall so if you yell I'll be able to hear you." Demetri said as he pushed Felix out the door.

I nodded and waved as he shut the door then buried my head in the pillows again.

I was startled awake sometime later by the door being slammed into the wall.

"Wake up little princess. Time for breakfast." James snarled as he stalked over to the bed and slammed a tray down on the bedside table, sloshing juice all over everything.

"What's your problem?" I glared at him, stubbornly ignoring the food. I would eat again when someone I at least partially trusted brought food to me.

"My problem Bella," He spat my name as if it were acid and leaned over, putting his face within inches of mine "is that I have to spend my free time making sure that the fragile little human doesn't get eaten by the big bad vampires."

"Well you don't have to take it out on me. It's not like I asked to be here."

We stared each other down, neither of us wanting to relent and look away.

"Well, well, well is this the new pet, James darling?" A nasally female voice called from the doorway.

James finally broke eye contact to send a loathing look at the woman that was now standing at the foot of my bed.

"Excuse me. Who the hell are you and who invited you in?" I turned my blistering gaze onto her.

She had frizzy black hair that came halfway down her back and the vomit green sweater she was wearing was so tight that it looked like it was made for a five year old. The cream colored skirt might have been okay if it was about six inches longer.

"I'm Cassandra and I'm sure that we're going to become good friends since James has been ordered to watch you and James and I spend so much time together." She explained as if she were talking to a child. She emphasized the word ordered as if to make me understand that the only reason James would even consider being in the same room with me was because he had no other choice.

I couldn't contain my laughter when she walked over and leaned into James's chest and he moved away so fast she almost crashed to the floor.

She hissed at me and gave James a pouty look that I assumed was supposed to be sexy but actually looked like she had just bit into a lemon.

"I'll see you later baby." She blew a kiss at him before sauntering back into the hallway.

"I'm so sorry to be taking up all your free time now that I see what you're missing out on." I laughed.

"Just eat your damn food." He growled.

"You know, I don't think I will; how can I be sure that you haven't done something to it? Can you ask Demetri or Felix to bring me something in a little while? I'm going to take a shower." I dismissed him without a backwards glance.

As I was shutting the bathroom door I thought I heard him mumble something about a 'mouthy little bloodbag' and giggled to myself.

After struggling for ten minutes to keep the cast dry while washing my hair I finally gave up and wrapped myself in the fluffy robe that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door and went back into the bedroom to see if Heidi had brought me anything to wear. I opened the door and couldn't step into the room for all the shopping bags on the floor.

"Oh my god!" I gasped. I couldn't wear all of these clothes if I spend the rest of my life in this castle.

"There you are! Come on you need to try these on." Heidi appeared from behind a pile of shoeboxes that was almost as tall as she was and pulled me further into my worst nightmare.

"Really Heidi, a few pairs of jeans and a couple of t-shirts would have been fine. I don't need all of this." I sputtered.

"Nonsense! If you're going to live in Volterra Castle then you're going to dress like royalty. Now try this on and stop complaining." She tossed a dress at me and stood with her hand on her hip, tapping her foot impatiently.

I collapsed in an exhausted heap on the sofa after we'd gone though about half of the bags and boxes.

"I can't Heidi! I need something to eat, I'm starving." I moaned as she tossed yet another shirt at me.

"Oh fine, I'll be right back."

Over the past few hours I'd discovered that I really like Heidi. And as much as I hated trying on clothes I was grateful to her because she was keeping me occupied and I didn't have time to think about everything that had been taken away from me.

Heidi returned within minutes carrying a tray that had the most delicious looking cheeseburger on it that I'd ever seen. I sat up quickly and snatched the burger off the tray.

"Sorry, I would have given you a break earlier if you'd told me you were so hungry. Didn't James bring you breakfast this morning?" Heidi laughed.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't eat it. I don't think he'd actually do anything to my food but it really annoyed him that I wouldn't eat it."

Heidi's laughter was joined by two others I hadn't noticed until then. I raised my eyebrow at Heidi in question since my mouth was full and I couldn't speak.

"This is Sasha and Laurent." She introduced.

"I'm Bella but I'm assuming that you already know that since I seem to be a pretty big deal around here." I offered a small wave.

They laughed again.

"You have no idea how big of a deal you are B." Laurent chuckled as he flopped down on the sofa next to me.

"B?" I asked him as I pulled my legs up under me to give him more room.

He just shrugged and started going through a bag of clothes that was sitting at his feet.

"Bella…" Sasha looked slightly nervous.

I turned to give her my full attention.

"I was wondering if I could try my power on you? I've never met anyone before that it didn't work on."

I was surprised. No one had bothered to ask me before.

"Umm…what's your power?"

"I guess you could call it manipulation or persuasion. I can make people believe what I want them to. I can implant false memories and erase things from someone's mind."

"Sure I guess. Just don't make me act like a chicken or something."

She giggled and shook her head. She stared at me for a minute and I started to feel uncomfortable.

"Do I need to do anything for this to work?"

She smiled. "No, it doesn't work on you."

I sighed in relief.

"So Bella, why are you giving James such a hard time?" Heidi asked with a knowing smirk.

I felt my face scrunch up into a frown. "Because he's a condescending ass."

They laughed and Laurent patted my shoulder fondly.

"I heard that you think he's quite attractive." Laurent grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at me.

I could feel my face burning in embarrassment. I was going to kill Felix and Demetri when I saw them again.

"You're all attractive; he's the only one who acts like I'm here to intentionally make his life harder. Well I didn't get too good of a feeling from Cassandra either."

"You met Cassandra?" Sasha asked worriedly.

"Yeah, she followed James in this morning when he brought my breakfast." I told them all about what had happened that morning and they found it hilarious.

"Listen Bella, I think you should try to stay away from Cassandra as much as you can. She's an evil little bitch and I wouldn't put it past her to try and hurt you somehow." Sasha said giving me a serious look.

"Hey, I have no desire to spend any more time around her than necessary." I reassured her.

The serious moment passed and I went back to trying on clothes. Thankfully with Sasha and Laurent there the pile of things to be returned grew exponentially as we out voted Heidi.

JPOV

A long shower and then some time with my car magazines; that was all I wanted this morning. After running patrol all night I was ready to not think about anything for awhile, but apparently what I wanted didn't matter anymore.

When the guard in the light grey cloak approached me I was slightly surprised, the low ranking vampires didn't usually approach me. This guy didn't look too happy about playing message boy either. His long face was pulled into a grimace of unease.

Even though he was taller than me he still looked like he was scared shitless. I knew whatever he had to tell me wouldn't make me happy.

When he'd finally stammered out that I had been ordered to take Bella breakfast it took all of my self control to keep from putting my fist through his face. You know the old saying don't kill the messenger? Well… it was meant for people like me.

"Why the hell can't you do it?"

The vampire took a few steps back from me with his hands up in a defensive pose.

"The orders are that no one other than the head guards are to go near the human."

I nodded angrily and motioned for him to leave; he took off at a full run down the hallway.

Now instead of enjoying my alone time I'm stuck trying to figure out what the hell a teenage human girl eats for breakfast. Even when I was human I don't think I knew how to cook, I honestly can't really remember anymore.

I pulled a white ceramic bowl off the shelf in the kitchen and accidentally broke it into a hundred pieces when I set it on the counter.

"Why the hell do we even have dishes? No one in this fucking place eats." I muttered under my breath while pulling out another bowl.

"Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity you know."

Laurent appeared in the door way wearing his customary trench coat and turtleneck shirt. No one had the heart to tell him how gay he looked.

"No it's not. You're only insane when you can have a full conversation with yourself."

He let out an amused snort and came closer to inspect my mess.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm getting breakfast for Aro's little princess."

He raised a dark eye brow at me. "Well I figured as much, I didn't really think you were getting something for yourself. I meant what are you going do with all this stuff."

He pointed at the bowl, the box of cereal I'd gotten out, the juice, the milk, and the eggs all sitting on the counter where I'd set it.

"I'm trying to remember what the hell I'm supposed to mix with this crap."

The bowl of tan corn flakes didn't look the least bit appetizing if you asked me. Whoever decided that drying out corn and flattening the shit out of it would taste good was missing a few taste buds.

"I'm pretty sure it's the milk. Why don't you just take it all and she can do it herself?"

"Yeah, whatever."

I broke four glasses while trying to pour the juice and the milk; I threw the fifth one at the wall just because I was pissed off. Why couldn't she come get this herself? It's not like she had a broken leg… and the broken wrist was her own fault.

As I left the kitchen Laurent yelled after me "Hey, the human… she's pretty good looking isn't she?"

I ignored his question and kept walking. What was with all the male vampires in the castle? They were acting like they'd never seen a pretty face before. I'll admit that Bella was pretty hot, but that's hard to remember when she speaks. An image of Bella with a gag in her mouth sprung to mind. Not a bad thought actually…

Her door was coming up and I contemplated on whether I should knock or not. I could hear her slow, even breathing. She must have still been asleep. I threw the door open, slamming it into the wall. I was sure it was exactly what she liked waking up to.

"Wake up little princess, time for breakfast." I set the tray on the nightstand a little too roughly, spilling juice everywhere.

"What's your problem?"

Her hair was a mess and her eyes were swollen; probably from crying all night. God… humans are so weak.

"My problem Bella. Is that I have to spend my free time making sure the fragile little human doesn't get eaten by the big bad vampires."

She hadn't even looked at the food I brought her; the ungrateful little brat. I wanted to dump the cereal on her head.

"Well you don't have to take it out on me! It's not like I asked to be here."

We stared at each other for a minute. She was right, maybe this hadn't been her choice but that didn't mean it should be my job to look after her.

Just when I was about to give in and look away Cassandra came to the door. My other favorite person.

"Well, well, well. Is this the new pet James darling?"

I looked over at her, now standing at the foot of Bella's bed. You'd think that after the better part of a century I'd have gotten used to her voice but no; it just got more annoying every time I heard it.

"Excuse me. Who the hell are you? And who invited you in?"

Bella asked Cassandra with the attitude only a teenager could pull off. I had to hold in a chuckle. This was probably the first time Cassandra had ever been talked to like that by a human and her irritation was showing clearly on her pinched face. It was just that much better knowing there was nothing she could do about it. Actually, it would have been nice if she'd tried, then I'd at least have an excuse to knock her around a little.

"I'm Cassandra, and I'm sure we're going to become good friends since James was ordered to watch you and James and I spend so much time together."

'Yeah, like a leech and its host.' I thought bitterly. I don't know what I did to get this woman to be so obsessed with me but I wish I could take it back.

She walked over and placed a hand on my chest, leaning in close. I knew she was coming for me, she always did; so I took a step back to keep her from rubbing her disgustingly sweet perfume all over my clothes. That shit never comes out.

Luckily Cassandra got the hint this time and was making her exit.

"I'll see you later baby." She puckered her overly lipsticked mouth and blew me a kiss. I wanted to bat the imaginary lips out of the air, but that probably would have made me look like an ass.

"I'm sorry to be taking up all your time now that I see what you're missing out on."

Bella laughed at my expense, furthering my irritation with the small girl. Her neck was so thin, it would be easy to just wrap my hand around it and squeeze.

"Just eat your damn food." I snapped at her, wishing I could just shove it down her throat.

"You know, I don't think I will; how can I be sure you haven't done something to it? Can you ask Demetri or Felix to bring me something in a little while? I'm going to take a shower."

She crawled out of the sheets and headed for the bathroom door. I couldn't help but notice the way her butt wiggled when she walked.

"Mouthy little blood bag." I grumbled to myself while picking up the tray of food. When I heard her giggle behind the door I almost threw the tray at it.

Once I was out of the room I handed it off to the first guard I saw and headed for my room. Who does she think she is? She can't order me to do anything! She'd only been in the castle for twenty four hours and she was already acting like she owned the place.

_____________________________________________

I'd taken my shower and spent some time looking through a truck magazine to calm myself down. Maybe humans were weak and boring, but at least they were doing something right when it came to cars. I decided to head out to the garage for a little while before I went back on duty.

As I passed Bella's room I could hear voices behind the door; Heidi, Laurent and Sasha. Figures they'd be in there being all buddy-buddy with the human. I listened to their conversation for a second.

Sasha was attempting to use her powers on Bella and it wasn't working. I have to admit, it was a little strange. It had been funny watching Jane try to work her evil little magic on Bella, that kid needed to be knocked down a notch anyway. Jane had only used her powers on me once and that was enough.

"So Bella, why are you giving James such a hard time" I could hear the smirk in Heidi's voice. What the hell…? I leaned against the door to make sure I head everything clearly. Not like it made a difference though.

"Because he's a condescending ass." I could imagine Bella's tart little face when she spoke. Laurent voice broke into the conversation. "I heard you think he's quite attractive."

Whoa, this was interesting. I might not like the kid but hey, it never hurts to know when someone thinks you're hot.

"You're all attractive; he's the only one who acts like I'm here to intentionally make his life harder. Well I didn't get a good feeling from Cassandra either."

I walked away once the conversation turned to my annoying little fan girl; like I needed to hear about her.

Whatever, I didn't care what Bella thought about me one way or the other.

I decided to ditch hanging out in the garage to talk to Aro. Hopefully I could convince the brothers to assign someone else to be her personal guard. I was far too valuable for such a mundane assignment.

Not like much ever happened here but still…

The long maze-like hallways blurred as I passed through them, running almost full speed to the library where Aro and Caius were talking. The large oak door was closed so I just stood outside waiting, they would notice my presence and call for me to enter when they were ready. I heard Aro's quiet voice call my name.

"James, what brings you to us?" Aro was reclining in a large wing backed chair, his hands resting fingertip to fingertip in front of his face.

"I wish for you to assign someone else as Bella's bodyguard." I kept my head down in respect. Asking the brother's to change a decision that has already been made was risky, doing it without showing the utmost respect was a death wish.

"Oh? Is there a reason why you are not able to perform this task?"

Caius was standing next to the fireplace. The flames cast irregular shadows across his face making him look more evil than usual.

"Ah, it's not that I am unable… it's just that I feel like my services would be better used elsewhere."

"Like where?"

I could hear the icy control in Caius' voice. He hated to be questioned.

"With all due respect sir, I am one of the top ranking guards in your service. Perhaps as a personal body guard to you or one of the other brothers; or continuing my role as head of security. Besides, I don't think Bella is pleased with me."

My eyes were glued to the floor now, I felt like my neck was on a chopping block. .Maybe I should have just dealt with Bella…

"My dear boy, all the reasons you've mentioned were why we chose you! You are the most capable of keeping the baby lamb safe in the lions den… and as for Bella. You must understand how she is feeling. Being thrust into our world is quite a shock. And she still has her human attachments to the world. Give her time and eventually I believe she will adjust to life in the castle. Until then we must all do our best to make her comfortable." Aro chuckled lightly, he had stood while speaking to put a gentle hand on my shoulder. "And we mustn't forget she is still a teenager. I'm sure your own disposition wasn't very agreeable when you were her age."

He had been gently but firmly guiding me towards the door. With a swift movement he had swung the door open and was ushering me back into the hallway.

"This is our final decision, and I don't expect any more discussion about it." For the first time I could sense irritation in Aro's soft voice.

I took a step back and bowed my head slightly as he closed the door on me. Before I had a chance to dig myself into a deeper hole by letting my anger out where someone might hear I ran for the court yard in the center of the castle.

The sun was still high in the sky but heading towards the horizon as evening approached. I tried to remember what it was like before I became a vampire. Mostly it was just fragments and bits of my life. The things I remembered most clearly were being cold and hungry.

My family was poor and I had been forced to work almost as soon as I could walk. Back then children were a means of obtaining free labor and continuing a family name, I don't remember much of being loved.

If I had been adopted into the castle as a child and given whatever I wanted I wouldn't have been acting the way Bella was. I would have been excited as hell. Maybe if I had been close with my parents and had a happy life I might have been upset about losing them.

There was just a few hours left until the sun completely dropped from the sky and Bella would need to eat. So would all the vampires I had chosen to help out with her. As part of the precautions set up all vampires who had contact with the human were to feed regularly, being hungry increased the chances for an accident.

With a sigh of frustration I left to go find Heidi and tell her to round up some dinner. I would pawn off the duty of getting Bella something to eat on someone else. Just because I was in charge of her didn't mean I had to personally perform all the duties required.

Life in the castle had taken a strange turn and I was stuck on the ride.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Hello all! Sleepy and I are so glad that you're back to read another chapter! This chapter is only Bella's POV but then next chapter will start with James's POV and we can't wait to hear what you guys think about them! We're going to try and post again in a few days since this chapter is so short and you're all missing out on Sleepy's wonderful James! Don't forget to review!_

_**Disclaimer: We don't own Twilight!!**_

**Chapter 3 BPOV**

The week passed slowly. All my new friends tried their best to keep me occupied during the day so I wouldn't have time to sink into a deep depression; but the nights were horrible. I couldn't sleep more than a few minutes at a time before I would wake up screaming.

The nightmares were awful. Images of my first night in the castle were always waiting for me as soon as I closed my eyes. The only way I could force myself to fall asleep was by humming the lullaby that my mother used to sing to me when I was little and forcing Renee, Phil and my father to be the only things I would see when I tried to sleep.

I started venturing out of my room during the day and walking around the castle as much as I could, hoping that if I was physically exhausted when I went to bed that I would be too tired to dream but nothing worked. Felix and I played countless foosball games and spent hours swimming in the huge heated pool in one of the gardens. Heidi bought even more clothes and insisted that I try on everything she brought me. Victoria, Laurent and Sasha tried to reign in Heidi and Felix; and Demetri just happened to be there whenever I needed him.

I was hiding in my bathroom trying to avoid Heidi who'd just come back from yet another shopping trip. This time she'd gone to buy me jewelry and that thought terrified me. I could only imagine the kind of things she would come back with. Two karat diamond earrings and five karat pendants weren't my style and since I wasn't allowed to leave the castle where would I wear them anyway?

I sighed when the inevitable knock finally came. Resigned to my fate I shuffled over and opened the bathroom door.

"Demetri!" I cried and flung my arms around him in gratitude.

"Did you miss me that much? I just saw you last night." He chuckled.

"I thought you were Heidi; she's gone to buy me some jewelry." I mumbled, making him laugh louder.

"Well, I can hide you from her for awhile but you know how Heidi is, you won't be able to avoid her for long. Now come on little human, there's someone who wants to see you."

"Aro again?" I grumbled.

"No, Marcus invited you to meet him in the library. I think you'll like him, have you got to meet him yet?"

"No, and why hasn't anyone told me that there's a library here?"

Demetri laughed. "I guess we didn't realize that it would be something you were interested in. Most teenage girls don't willing spend time in the library if they don't have too."

"Well, I'm not most teenage girls now am I?" I smirked as I linked my arm through his.

He led me down the endless hallways and I wondered if I would ever find my way around this place.

"D, there's not like a map or something I could use so I'm not constantly getting lost is there?"

"No but I'll draw you one, okay."

"Thanks." I said gratefully as we stopped outside yet another ornately engraved door and Demetri knocked.

"Come in." A soft voice called from inside.

Demetri opened the doors and gestured for me to go in. I stepped inside and instantly knew where I would be spending the majority of my time from then on. There were floor to ceiling bookshelves surrounding the entire room except for one wall which had a huge fireplace with a blazing fire in it. High windows were spaced between the bookshelves, allowing what little light that managed to filter through the trees in the garden outside to enter the room. Large overstuffed chairs were placed throughout the room.

Marcus was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace watching me with amused eyes as I took in the room. I looked over at Demetri who seemed to be staring at Marcus with a shocked expression on his face.

"Bella, I hope I didn't interrupt your plans for today."

For some reason I felt like I could really talk to Marcus. He made me feel like a person instead of an experiment or a nuisance like Aro and Caius.

"Of course not Marcus and thank you for inviting me instead of ordering me to come here." I smiled.

"I have a feeling that you're not someone who will easily contort to the standard protocol that my brothers insist upon." He chuckled. "I don't want you to feel like you have to bow to me and call me master. I would like to be your friend and make your transition to living in the castle as painless as possible."

"Thank you Marcus but I don't think that there is anything that will make this easier for me." I slumped down in a chair next to him.

"Demetri, I'll call for you when Bella is ready to go back to her room." Marcus dismissed Demetri who started toward the door before pausing to look back at me to make sure I was okay. I nodded at him and he closed the door behind him.

Marcus was still watching me with an almost worried expression on his face.

"You look tired, is your bed not comfortable?"

"The bed's fine Marcus…"

"Then why are you not sleeping?" He looked completely confused.

"I…I see the feeding room every time I close my eyes. And if I do fall asleep I wake up screaming within minutes." I whispered.

"Dear girl, I am truly sorry that you had to witness that. I'm so glad that Aro took the time to try and read you." He studied me intently for a moment. "Well, since you can't sleep anyway why don't I come to your room tonight and you can tell me all about yourself." He offered kindly.

"I would really like that, thank you Marcus. Now, tell me about this library." I smiled.

Forty-five minutes later Marcus called Demetri to take me back to my room and promised he would see me at eleven when I was ready for bed. He had showed me the entire library and pointed out the areas with the books that I told him I was interested in. I also learned that no part of the castle was off limits to me, I was free to go anywhere I wanted as long as I didn't leave the castle. There were still people looking for me and the Volturi weren't going to take a chance that I might be spotted in the street.

When he told me that my parents were still looking for me I immediately started thinking about how to make it into the streets long enough to attract attention to myself. As if he could read my thoughts Marcus laughed lightly.

"I'm sorry Bella but we have our top guards protecting you, there's no way that you can get past all of them and slip out of the castle without anyone noticing. I know you've heard these words countless times since you got here but things will get better with time. Things have been the same for so long around here; we as a species are set in our ways and do not adjust well to change but I think you are just what we've been needing around here." He smiled fondly at me and kissed my forehead. "Come on, Demetri is waiting for you in the hallway."

"I'll see you tonight?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I'll see you at eleven." He reassured me.

Demetri smiled down at me as I stepped into the hallway.

"I thought you might like Marcus. He's much easier to get along with than the other brothers."

I nodded in agreement and looked up and down the hallway trying to remember which way we had come in.

"So…how's that map coming?"

Demetri laughed. "You know you don't really need one. You have six top guard members assigned to you plus Heidi seems to have become very attached to you as well. You'll never have to walk again if you don't want to."

"What? You really want to spend your time carrying me around?"

"It's not a hardship Bella; you weight nothing to us; besides you have no idea how tedious it is to walk around at human pace."

I looked up at him for a moment before nodding to him. He grinned widely and swung me up in his arms.

I squealed loudly causing a passing guard wearing a light grey robe to look over at us in fright. When I started laughing he looked away, seemingly relieved. Demetri ran and I closed my eyes and savored the feeling. I felt like I was flying, the wind he created by moving so fast whipped through my hair and I could hear his robe rustling behind us. I opened my eyes and sighed in disappointment when he stopped.

"Okay so maybe we need to do that more often."

He smirked down at me and opened the door he was standing in front of.

"Lunchtime Bella, you need to pay more attention to when you're supposed to eat. You missed breakfast and lunch yesterday."

"Fine I'll try okay."

I forced myself to eat a sandwich and wondered who was going food shopping for me. I giggled when I thought about any of my new friends in a market picking out groceries.

"Demetri, who's buying my food?"

"Oh, one of the human employees. Aro is in the process of hiring a chef to cook your meals but until then I think he has Gianna buying food for you."

I gaped at him. First because there were human employees here, this meant that other humans knew about vampires and were still alive. And secondly because Aro was hiring a chef when I was the only one they would be cooking for.

Demetri seemed to know what I was thinking and answered my questions before I could ask them.

"The humans work here in hopes that they will impress the brothers and be changed into vampires; they are very aware that at anytime their usefulness could run out and then they will be dinner. Like we've told you before humans are not allowed to know about us and live."

I could feel the blood drain from my face. People actually volunteered to work in the castle knowing that they could be killed at anytime. I couldn't comprehend that, luckily Demetri had already moved on.

"As for the chef…well, call it a perk of being a princess."

"I'm not a princess." I corrected him.

"But you are Bella. Aro is already referring to you as his daughter. He's very taken with you."

I spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening with Demetri and Felix who were trying to teach me how to play poker. They were failing miserably. Apparently I have a very expressive face that gives me away every time. James brought me my dinner again and I was too tired to torment him so I just ate the food and ignored his biting remarks and childish attempts to make me argue with him.

Before I knew it, it was eleven and Marcus was knocking on my door. I let him in and crawled into bed.

"What would you like to talk about tonight Bella?" He asked as he pulled a chair over next to the bed and sat down.

"Why don't you tell me a story from your long life?" I asked, playfully emphasizing the word long.

He smiled at me and thought for a moment before launching into the tale of why the people of Volterra celebrate St. Marcus day. I concentrated on the sound of his soothing voice and before I knew it James was banging the door open to bring me breakfast again.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey everyone, sleepy again... I am really glad you are liking the story! Please keep up the reviews.. it makes me and QuickBunny super happy and bitching at each other to finish chapters to post up. Anyway, happy reading =)

**Chapter 4 JPOV**

"Are you finding everything alright?" A plump woman in a plaid purple skirt and matching jacket was waddling here way towards Demetri, Felix and I. Her face was all red and squished together like a little pug dog.

"Yeah we're good." Felix flashed the woman his best scary vampire smile. The woman practically ran in the other direction.

Demetri and Felix had tricked me into coming with them to buy Bella a birthday present by telling me we were going to buy a new radio for Felix's car. We had been looking for three hours and they still hadn't picked anything out.

"Just pick something already! It's not like it matters." I grumbled angrily. This was getting fucking ridiculous.

I picked up a glass egg from the counter we were standing next to and began tossing it in the air. The pug lady was peaking at us through the crack in the doorway to the employee only area and I could hear her gasp each time I tossed the little egg so I started throwing it a little higher each time.

We had been in this particular antique shop for twenty minutes, more than enough time to see every single item twice. If they hadn't found something yet then it wasn't there.

"This does matter asshole. What are you getting Bella?"

Felix snatched the egg I was tossing out of the air and was attempting to balance it on the tip of his finger. I glanced to see if pug lady had passed out yet.

"I'm not going to spit in her breakfast tomorrow." I smiled evilly.

Demetri sneered at me before going back to studying the glass ornaments in front of him. I honestly couldn't understand the big brother mentality the two of them had taken with Bella. In my opinion she was an annoying little brat that was getting more spoiled by the day.

Aro thought of her as the second coming; the only person in history able to block out his powers. Caius couldn't really care less about her except for the fact that he too thought she would make a powerful vampire; one he would gladly have in his guard. And then there was Marcus.

I didn't really get what he saw in her but the way he let her get away with whatever she wanted was more irritating than anything. It was worse than with the other two because he didn't really care about what powers she possessed; he just liked her. He'd spent every night with her for the past few months talking about God knows what.

With almost every vampire in the castle wrapped around her little finger she really was like a little princess. Her birthday was practically a royal event. Heidi and Sasha had been given permission to go all out; the Brother's would pay whatever it cost to have the most elaborate party for Bella's first birthday in the castle.

"None of these are right. Let's just go." Demetri turned to leave, giving a frustrated sigh.

We walked down the dark streets at an annoyingly slow pace. I hated having to act human, it was so… slow. All the stores were closing for the night, thankfully; at least now we could go home I thought.

"Ok, let's check in here real quick."

I rolled my eyes but followed the other two vampires into the small shop. It didn't really have a theme unless you call "junk" a specialty item. There were two racks of t-shirts in the corner and a table of old records across from it. The walls in the front of the store were lined with trinkets and stuff that looked like it had been salvaged out of the nearest dumpster.

Demetri and Felix made their way through the shop towards the back while I leaned against a statue of Elvis to wait for them. My eyes wandered the store trying to find something to keep me occupied when I noticed a small shelf on the wall behind The King's head.

There was a small ceramic apple with the face of a clock set into it. On the top were two metal leaves with a stem between them. I lifted off the shelf for a closer inspection. It turned out to be an alarm clock and the leaves were actually the bells.

Bella had been complaining about how difficult it was to keep track of the time in the castle since there weren't any clocks anywhere and she wasn't allowed outside. Vampires didn't have much need for clocks. Why she needed to know what time it was I had no clue, it wasn't like she had anything to do.

A trickle of sympathy ran through me. I hated when I actually stopped to think about things from Bella's point of view. It made it more difficult to dislike her. Maybe life in the castle wasn't all that great when you had nothing to do but play dress up for Heidi and Sasha or play toss the human with Felix, Demetri and Laurent.

Before Felix or Demetri could catch me I paid for the clock and tucked into my pocket, keeping my hand over it to disguise the bulge. Felix was coming back from looking through the t-shirts with a disappointed frown.

"Man, who would have thought it would be so difficult to find something good?"

He flicked a wind chime absently, nicking off a tiny piece of the glass.

"Yeah, well. I'm gonna head back. Good luck." I gave him a mock salute before ducking out of the shop and racing through the shadows back to the castle. Maybe Felix didn't pay attention to what was going on around him but Demetri always saw through everyone. I didn't want to hear their crap when they found out I'd bought Bella a present.

….

Demetri walked up to the front of the store with a small wooden box in hand. When he noticed Felix standing alone smiling like someone had just handed him the keys to the blood bank he cocked his head to the side. "Where'd James go?"

"Probably back to the castle to wrap the present he just bought for Bella." He lifted one eyebrow as if to say 'I told you so.'

"He really bought her something?"

"Yeah, a little apple or something. I couldn't see it all the way from where I was standing. And I was trying to make it seem like I was looking at the shirts so he wouldn't notice I was watching."

Demetri looked back at the rack of clothes then over to Felix as if he didn't believe what he was saying. Felix always had been one of the sneakiest vampires in the castle. It was the only way he could pull off all his pranks.

"I told you! He totally likes her." Felix crossed his arms over his broad chest; Satisfied that he'd been proven right for once.

"Yeah but does he know that?" Demetri laughed while paying for the jewelry box. It was made out of a dark colored wood and had an ornate carving of cherry blossoms across the lid and sides. He was pretty sure it was something Bella would appreciate.

The two vampires left the store discussing how they were going to go about showing James just how much he really did like Bella; whether he wanted to or not.

…

I pulled the tag off the little white bag I'd wrapped the clock in for the third time. I couldn't decide if I wanted Bella to know it was from me or not. If she knew she might think it meant I was starting to like her, if she didn't know she would think I hadn't gotten her anything at all. I'd rather have her angry at me than actually have her know I'd taken the time to think about her. I crumpled the tag into a ball and tossed it onto my dresser.

The hallways were full of people in costumes; most of them were pretty stupid. An astronaut passed me and gave me a thumbs up. Since I wasn't exactly sure who it was I just ignored the gesture and kept walking.

If Heidi and Sasha weren't such idiots they would have realized that Halloween is in October, not September, and we wouldn't have to do this. But they'd already sent out the invitations by the time Bella had passed on that little nugget of information.

With one last adjustment to my cape to make sure it was hiding the little bag in my hand I opened the doors to the ballroom, letting out the blast of music from inside.

There were gothic style sconces lining the walls with real flames lighting the room. The ceiling was covered in some kind of red and black shimmery material with ribbons running through it to make it look like puffy odd colored clouds. Along the wall was a table full of gourmet treats and a three tiered birthday cake covered in a variety of red flowers.

A little overkill since there would only be one human in attendance. Said human was standing in a circle of vampires laughing and talking; probably the only human in history to do so. Bella was dressed as a princess… of course. Something told me she hadn't picked her costume.

It was dark blue and hung gracefully off her shoulders, giving a full view of that pale little neck of hers. Not the smartest idea since she was in a room full of vampires; that's what I was for though. So far not one vampire in the castle had tried anything to hurt her, but if they did I'd make sure it was the last thing they ever did.

I deposited my present onto the table with the other packages as discretely as possible, placing it towards the back. While I made my way across the dance floor towards Laurent an arm snaked around my waist.

"James! Dance with me baby!"

Cassandra danced her way in front of me, rubbing her ass all over me. The fuzz from the tail on her bunny costume was leaving little pieces of lint all over my black pants. I tried to step around her but she wiggled her away back into my path, slipping her arm around my neck.

"AAww.. Jamesiieeee. Pwease dance with me." She stuck her lips out into a pout and continued to try and dance with me. I just stood perfectly still hoping she would give up. If I only I could be so lucky.

"I don't dance." I told her as coldly as possible.

Cassandra just gave me a look that was probably meant to be sexy but instead came off as slightly constipated. I was finally able to escape her and found Laurent and Victoria watching me with amused expressions.

"That looked fun." Laurent nodded towards the floor where I'd just been.

"Yeah, too bad it wasn't."

Victoria just giggled and tugged at my cape.

"Who are you supposed to be? The evil version of Superman? Where's your tights?" She laughed while trying to get a look at what I was wearing beneath the heavy material. I think she was disappointed to find a tux.

"I'm Dracula."

"Ugh, you're so lame." Victoria rolled her eyes at me. I just shrugged, it wasn't like I was going to go out and actually get a costume for this stupid party. And her Cleopatra costume wasn't all that original either.

"What's going on my peeps?" Felix appeared behind them dressed as… I wasn't exactly sure.

"What the hell is that?" I pointed to the black speedo and bow tie he was wearing.

"Oh, I'm a Chipendales guy. Heidi got it for me. I told her I didn't know what to come as and she said she'd find me a costume. When she brought this to my room today I didn't have time to find something else." He was still swaying side to side with the music like it wasn't a big deal.

Victoria was obviously enjoying the sight of the mostly naked Felix as were most of the female vampires I noticed. She reached up to straighten his bow and ended up caressing his chest.

The night wore on with things getting a little more out of control with each hour. Felix had succeeded in pissing Cassandra off when he tried to yank off her tail and accidentally ripped the entire backside of her costume out.

Now we were all standing around watching Bella oohh and ahh at her gifts. She'd spent almost an hour ripping through the brightly colored paper and had barely made a dent in the pile. When Sasha handed her a small white bag I began to feel little nervous. I wasn't sure why, I didn't really care if she liked it or not.

Bella pulled out the tissue paper and her eyes widened with excitement.

"What is it?" Sasha asked impatiently. I'm pretty sure she and Heidi were having more fun than Bella.

"It's a clock!" She held it out in the palm of her hand for everyone to see.

"A clock? What's so great about that? Who's it from?" Heidi was frowning a little. This was by far the least glamorous present Bella had opened.

"I don't know. There was no card or tag," Bella was looking it over and smiling widely, the sight stirred something in me.

"It's from James." Demetri stepped forward and handed something to Bella that looked like a crumpled piece of paper; it was the tag I'd left on my dresser. "I found this in the hallway and forgot to tell you." He smiled wickedly at me before stepping back into the crowd. Bella was looking at me like my head had just fallen off.

"This is from you?" She was clutching the clock to her chest like I might take it back or something.

"Uh, yeah. Happy birthday." I reached up and rubbed my chin, trying to look as bored as possible so she would just move on.

"Well, thank you." Bella gave me a questioning look before gently putting the apple back into the bag and moving on to the rest of the presents.

I thought that was a perfect moment for me to make my escape but a large half naked vampire was blocking my way, smiling down at me like he'd gotten away with something.

"That was a really nice present James." Felix patted my shoulder and gave Demetri a knowing grin.

"What the hell are you two up to?"

Demetri waved his hand and looked over my shoulder at what Bella was opening next.

"We didn't do anything! After all… we weren't the ones who bought a present in secret."

"You two suck." I pushed my way through the two idiots and made my way to the door. When I looked back one more time before leaving everyone was heading towards the food table to sing 'Happy Birthday' and make Bella blow out the candles. I caught Bella watching me with an odd expression. Almost like she was sad to see me go.

Heidi and Sasha were making everyone to back out of the way so they could light the candles, forcing too many vampires in between Bella and I for me to see her anymore. I shook my head and let the door close just as the first chorus was starting.

**BPOV**

"Bella, wake up! Come on we have to start getting you ready!" Heidi screeched as she shook my shoulder.

I groaned and tried to roll over only to be blocked on that side by Sasha who was grinning evilly at me.

"Why in the world would I have to get up this early to get ready for anything?" I asked groggily.

They both stared at me for a moment with expectant looks on their faces. After thinking for a moment I growled and tried to bury my head under the pillows.

"Nuh unh, come on princess today is your big day and we're not going to let you sleep through it!" Sasha cried cheerfully. I would have to remember to ask someone exactly how one would go about killing a vampire.

I'd been arguing with Aro for weeks over my stupid birthday. I told him I was fine with having a party, just not the one he wanted me to have; which involved the entire vampire staff of the castle all the guard included. Aro wouldn't budge on this though; usually if he wanted me to do something that I didn't want to do I would just argue with him until he gave up but for some reason he was insistent on this huge party.

To make matters worse he'd given Heidi and Sasha an unlimited budget and let them plan the whole thing. I wasn't allowed to see the ballroom once they started decorating; I wasn't even allowed to see my costume. Yes, costume. Apparently along with not having clocks in the castle they also didn't have calendars. When I told Heidi that Halloween wasn't for another month she had looked slightly disappointed for a moment before smiling happily and saying that we would just call it a masquerade party.

I glanced over at my bedside table and saw my breakfast tray already sitting there.

"What time is it anyway?" I asked irritably. I'd gotten tired of asking someone to buy me a clock after about the fifteenth time but it was so annoying to never know what time it was.

"About nine; why?" Heidi asked with a sly smile.

"No reason, it's just unusual for James to bring me breakfast without waking me up by trying to slam the door through the wall." I shrugged and reached for the orange juice on the tray.

Sasha and Heidi shared a knowing look.

"Why does everyone look like that every time I say something about James?" I snapped.

"Oh come on Bella, we could hear the slightest hint of disappointment in your voice when you were talking about him not waking you up. I think you look forward to James slamming your door through the wall every morning." Heidi smirked.

"Ugh, not this again. I've told you a thousand times; I can't stand James! He torments me every chance he gets."

"Whatever. Time to get in the shower; now come on before I carry you in there and wash you myself." She replied, rolling her eyes at me.

"Why am I getting ready for the party at nine a.m. when it's not until eight tonight?"

"Because we're going to have a girl's day. After you shower we're going back to my room to meet Victoria and the wives to spend the day watching movies, painting our nails and doing our hair. Then at seven we'll all finish getting ready together. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Heidi gushed excitedly.

I slowly climbed out of bed, knowing there was no point fighting with her about it; she would win anyways, she always does.

I showered quickly and dressed in the lounge pants and tank top that were laid out for me on the counter before throwing my fluffy bathrobe on. I hadn't once picked out my own clothes since I came to the castle; every morning when I got out of the shower my outfit was laid out for me, all the way down to which shoes I was to wear. I didn't even bother to take my hair out of the towel and brush is because Heidi would just do it again anyway.

I stepped back into my bedroom and Sasha instantly scooped me up and started running. It was a good thing that I'd gotten used to that over the past few months or I might have screamed. She was setting me down on Heidi's bed seconds later. All the vampires in the room were having a conversation that they apparently didn't feel a need to let me in on since they were talking at vampire speed. I stared at them in annoyance until finally Athenodora noticed my sour expression.

"We're sorry dear; we were just discussing what to do with your hair and nails." She smiled kindly and I couldn't help but to smile back.

I still haven't figured out what such a sweet woman saw in evil Caius but I thought it would be rude to ask.

"Well, what will it be ladies?" I asked, finally starting to cheer up.

"We're going to do your nails in pale silver and we'll decide on your hair later." Victoria said seriously, nodding her head and looking around the room to confirm this with everyone else. I barely contained my laughter at the seriousness of the conversation.

We took turns painting each other's fingernails and toenails while we chatted about all the gorgeous male vampires in the castle. Heidi kept getting up and putting movies in the dvd player but no one was watching them so eventually she gave up and turned the tv off and turned on the stereo instead. After our nails dried we danced around the room using hairbrushes and curling irons as microphones as we sang along to the music.

Before I knew it everyone was rushing about the room trying to finish getting ready. They sat me at Heidi's dresser and started pinning my hair up in an elaborate updo.

"Hey guys, not that I don't like my hair this way but don't you think that maybe I should wear it down? This is the first time I'll be in the same room with all the vampires at once should we really leave my neck and throat so exposed?"

Everyone laughed and shook their heads at me.

"Bella, do you really think that James would let anything happen to you? Not to mention Demetri, Felix and the rest of us. Don't worry, you'll be fine." Sasha reassured me.

"Fine, can I know what I'm going as now?"

"Just a minute." Heidi said as she pinned the last strand of hair in place and Victoria finished applying my lipstick.

Sasha went over to the closet and came back with a beautiful dark blue gown. I looked at the dress but still couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be until she held up a sparkling silver tiara. I rolled my eyes and chuckled. Of course I would be dressed as a princess, what else would the adopted daughter of Aro dress as for a costume party?

"Alright, let's get this over with." I sighed.

Twenty minutes later and a lot of double sided tape to hold the dress in place I was finally ready and was allowed to look at myself in the mirror. The dress draped my frame perfectly, the straps fell off my shoulders and it scooped low in the back. It was not something that I would have ever chosen for myself but I did love it. My feet were placed into pale silver heels, the same shade as my newly polished nails, and I was pronounced ready.

I looked around to see myself surrounded by Cleopatra (Victoria) Medusa (Sasha) and Catwoman (Heidi). I would never be able to figure out how Heidi managed to fit herself into skintight leather but she seemed to do it on an almost daily basis. I was escorted down to the ballroom by the oddly mixed trio since the wives had already left to meet their mates.

The girls had really outdone themselves. I stared in awe at the huge, elegant ballroom that had been transformed into a gothic-chic club. Shimmering red and black fabric floated overhead, suspended by thick blood-red ribbons and flickering torches lined the walls providing the only lighting. I laughed at the buffet table which was packed with enough food to feed a castle full of humans instead of just me.

I was pulled to the front of the room to talk to the brothers. I stood next to a very irritable looking Caius and talked to Marcus as we watched my guest trickle in, each one of them placing a gift on the ever growing pile in the center of the room.

Aro pulled me aside and handed me a thick envelope. I looked at him questioningly but he just nodded for me to open it. I carefully opened the flap of the envelope; it wouldn't do to get a paper cut now would it? I quickly read the letter that was on top of the small stack of papers then flipped to the second and third pages, my excitement growing by the moment.

"Really?!" I looked up at Aro thinking that he must be playing a joke on me. He had told me repeatedly that I couldn't leave the castle and I was weary of getting my hopes up only to have him crush them by laughing at me. Even though the search for me had been called off months ago I was still confined to the castle; I hadn't stepped foot outside its gardens since I'd arrived.

"Yes, the details are on in there. Your personal guards will be going with you." He sighed. "My brothers and I bought that island years ago with the hope that we would be able get away for a few weeks every couple of decades but sadly it has never been used. I will send servants out to prepare the house for you before you go. You will be leaving in a week."

"Thank you so much!" I whispered as I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. I was coming to terms with the fact that Aro had indeed saved my life and oddly enough the more time I spent with him the more I liked him.

Music was pulsing throughout the room and Aro pushed me toward my friends telling me to go and enjoy my party. I danced with Demetri and Laurent then laughed with them at Felix's costume before I danced with him as well. After dancing I continued to be passed around the room, always with one of my 'personal guards' at my side, so I everyone could wish me a happy birthday. When Felix ripped the back off of Cassandra's outfit while trying to pull the fuzzy white tail off of her skanky 'bunny' costume I nearly choked on a piece of shrimp because I was laughing so hard. An hour and a half later I found myself in the spotlight, literally, Heidi had trained a spotlight on me and announced it was time to open my gifts. I tried to keep my embarrassed blush under control, since I knew that my blushing just drove the vampires crazy, and sat myself in the large chair next to the mountain of gifts.

Sasha and Heidi handed me gift after gift, occasionally sighing in frustration at my slow human pace. I opened jewelry, clothes, shoes, a laptop, an mp3 player, enough books to start my own library, a stereo system for my room, a beautiful carved wooden jewelry box from Demetri, card from Felix telling me that my gift from him was already in my room and countless other expensive things. I took a deep breath and accepted the small bag that Sasha was trying to force into my hands.

I reached into the bag expecting to pull out another insanely expensive necklace or electronic device but was happily surprised when I pulled out a small alarm clock shaped like an apple. I grinned at the small clock, at least someone in the castle knew me enough to know what I would really appreciate.

"What is it?" Sasha asked, trying to look around the bag in my lap to see what I was holding.

"It's a clock!" I told her, excited to show them my favorite gift. I held it up for everyone to see.

"A clock? What's so great about that? Who's it from?" Heidi was frowning a little as she stared at the little apple in the palm of my hand.

"I don't know. There was no card or tag." I told her, still smiling at the clock.

"It's from James." Demetri informed me, handing me the tag that matched the bag I was still holding. "I found this in the hallway and forgot to tell you." He told James before smiling at him and stepping back into the crowd that was surrounding me.

I stared in shock at James who was looking slightly uncomfortable and unconsciously clutched the clock to my chest.

"This is from you?"

"Uh, yeah. Happy birthday." He said with a bored look on his face.

"Well, thank you." I said still looking at him as I tried to figure out how the person who did everything he could to make me understand that he couldn't stand me was the only one who knew what I would really want. I placed the apple back in the bag and handed it to Heidi as I took the next gift from her.

Finally I had opened all the gifts and thought the worst was over. I was proven wrong once again when the two party planners started pushing everyone toward the table holding the absurdly huge three layer birthday cake. I looked up and spotted James headed toward the door and found myself wishing he would stay. Almost as if he could feel me watching him he turned and met my eyes. We watched each other until there were too many vampires between us to be able to see each other anymore. With the trance of his gaze broken I mentally shook myself and wondered what had gotten into me. I couldn't stand James's cocky 'holier than thou' attitude. I shrugged it off and tried not to blush too much when the entire room sang Happy Birthday to me.

**AN: Hey guys quickbunny here, I'm sure a few of you have discovered the error I made about the wives. In To Belong I have Sulpicia as being Aro's mate and Athenodora as being Caius's; I realize that this is wrong but since Sulpicia is talked about quite a bit in To Belong I've decided to leave it the way it is. I hope you can overlook my mistake! Come back next week for the next chapter!!**


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Hey guys, thanks for coming back this week for a new chapter! And we want to thank all our reviewers, your reviews make us so happy and we can't thank you enough!! We love you all! Okay I don't think I really had anything important to say so I'll shut up and let you start reading now._

_~quickbunny~_

_Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with us this far. And please review! It makes James really fucking happy =) Ok he probably wouldn't give a shit but it makes me smile._

_-sleepy_

**Chapter 5 JPOV**

I hate the beach. I hate the millions of grains of sand that find their way into every part of my body that they are NOT supposed to be in. I hate the bright ass sun. I just really hate the beach. I have managed to avoid it for almost a hundred years, but since Bella wanted to get out of the castle I have been forced to take my undead, sparkly ass to a tropical fucking island.

While I was busy trying to wipe the sand off my legs on the porch of the mansion we were staying in a large brightly colored ball bounced against the back of my head. I'm pretty sure Victoria was pissed at me after I popped the stupid thing.

"God, you're such a jerk sometimes." She snarled while walking past me into the house.

The house we were staying in almost took up the entire island. It was designed in typical island fashion with a lot of balconies and large windows and shit. I guess I couldn't complain about the living accommodations much.

Everyone was little hyper; it had been a long time since we'd been able to walk around in the sunlight without drawing unwanted attention to ourselves. Bella still stared sometimes but I guess she was getting used to it.

Ugh, Bella. Ever since the little fiasco with her birthday present she'd been even more annoying. Asking me for extra favors in the sickly sweet voice she usually reserved for the Brother's or smiling at me when I was doing my best to bug the crap out of her. It took all the fun out of it.

I tossed her suitcases into her room without caring where they landed causing one to spring open, spilling its contents across the floor. I almost considered just leaving the mess until a flash of red caught my eye.

It was the apple shaped alarm clock that had started everything. Why she had brought it I couldn't figure out. Who needs to keep track of the time while on vacation?

While I held it in my hand I started to feel a little guilty for being such a dick to her all the time. It really wasn't her fault that I'd been assigned as her guard. I gently put the little clock back into the suitcase and began gathering the rest of the clothes that had spilled with it.

When I picked up a small pink thong I almost flung it across the room in shock. It's not like I didn't realize that Bella wore underwear (actually I really hoped she had because the thought of her not… well…we won't go there.) But I hadn't expected to find lingerie like this! There was a whole pile of lacey thongs and bras sitting on the floor.

I quickly swept them up and shoved them into the suitcase before practically running from the room, almost knocking over Alec and Jane in the process.

"Watch where you're going!" The tiny little vampire that was Jane hissed at me. She was always so touchy.

We almost made it to the island without the two little snot rags but at the last second they convinced Caius to let them go. He had been the only one if the brother's who really objected to not having at least one of his usual guards with him,

I had specially chosen temporary guards for each of them though. That was probably why they had been ok with letting so many of the head guards leave. Alec and Jane would be heading home early anyway. Thank God.

I rolled my eyes and went back down to the kitchen to make sure it had been stocked sufficiently for Bella's needs. Some vacation; I had spent the last week going over every detail to make sure everything Bella needed would be there.

Humans were so high maintenance. When Heidi reminded me that Bella would probably need tampons at some point during our month long trip I almost choked on my own tongue. I really, really, tried not to think about that. I mean, it was hard to notice when it happened but I just made sure to make myself scarce around that time.

Everything seemed to be just as it was supposed to so I made my way into the living room and took up residence on the couch. I had brought a million magazines, an Xbox 360 and as many DVD's as I could. I didn't plan on stepping foot on the beach for the rest of my stay. That was until Bella came down the stairs in nothing but a tiny blue bikini.

She shrieked when Felix came up behind her and tossed her over his shoulder before darting out to the water. The image of tiny little Bella with all that flesh showing was burned into my eyes for a moment. I dropped the controller to the game console and followed them outside.

I could see everyone splashing around in the water, glittering brightly in the sun. Even for me it looked weird. Couldn't they have sent her to Siberia or something? I much preferred the cold weather to this crap.

Felix and Demetri had begun a contest to see who could catch a shark and the girls were all laying out their towels on the sand. Again Bella's milky skin caught my attention. It was pink from the extra blood rushing through her veins after she ran through the sand and water and contrasted perfectly with the little blue bikini. When I say little, I mean hardly anything at all.

My eyes almost popped out of my head when she rolled onto her stomach and undid the little bow holding her top closed to keep away any tan lines. I wanted to smack myself for ogling her ass way to long and began a little chant in my head "She's only fifteen, she's only fifteen…"

"There's a camera in the house if you want to take a picture."

Laurent came up next to me all covered in water droplets and sand, looking perfectly at home in the tropical sunlight.

"Shut up." I gave him the dirtiest look I could, hoping it conveyed my wish for him to NOT tell anyone that I had been drooling over our little pet human.

"What? It's perfectly normal James. Bella is a very attractive girl."

"Girl is right. She's just a baby, and she's the human I'm ordered to protect. Now can we just drop this?"

"Ok, ok. But don't forget… that little girl is growing up right as we speak." Laurent disappeared into the house with a smug smile. "I bet there are plenty of men back in the castle who have already noticed."

What the hell is he talking about? Of course Bella was growing up. But that didn't change the fact that at the moment she wasn't even old enough to drive a car. And the idea of someone in the castle thinking of Bella in a sexual way kind of made my stomach turn.

I watched Demetri and Felix's head bob up and down in the water almost a mile out and considered joining them. While I shuffled through the sand into the water I thought about Laurent's words.

Other than Laurent, Felix, Demetri, the Brother's and myself there weren't many male vampires around Bella. I thought of all the other guards who roamed the castle. Some were younger, maybe only eighteen when they were turned. Possibly, if they ever had more than a second to talk to her… I stopped that line of thinking as fast as I could. What did I care?

It was my responsibility to keep Bella safe, not scrutinize her love life. If she were to ever have one that is.

Once I made it out to where Felix and Demetri were swimming we spent the next hour messing around in the water but I couldn't stop the urge to keep checking on Bella. If she stayed out in the sun too long she'd get burnt.

'Dammit!' I shook my head, why the hell was I suddenly so concerned about stupid little Bella?

The next time I looked up she was sitting up on her towel and holding the front of her bathing suit to her chest while waiting for Victoria to tie it for her.

For the first time in a very long time I hated the fact that I was a vampire. All this perfect eyesight and perfect hearing and crap were a serious inconvenience at a time like this. I could make out the subtle cleavage peaking out above her arm, and the gentle curve of her hips while she kneeled on the towel. I dunked my head under the water to wash the image away and came up to see Felix looking at her.

"Damn. Our little girl is growing up way too fast."

My first instinct had been to smack him in the back of the head until I noticed the sad look in his eyes. Felix really did think of Bella as a little sister, something in my stomach relaxed a little. I guess part of me was still worried about which one of my vampire buddies was going to be Bella's first crush or even her first… Well… let's not think about that.

"You don't need to stare perv." I splashed water at him and was met by a wave of water when he splashed me back.

Stupid, huge fucking vampire making huge fucking waves. I shook the hair out of my face and resisted the urge to get into a splashing fight with him. That was just too gay I decided.

"Not like it was any worse than the way you were eyeing her like she was a cut of meat up there on the beach." Felix raised one cocky eyebrow before swimming away.

I was becoming seriously irritated with the tone of voice everyone used when talking about me or Bella, or me and Bella. There was nothing to talk about anyway.

"Don't worry about it man." Demetri patted my shoulder before following Felix.

I was starring daggers into his back and wished again that everyone would just shut the fuck up. I didn't have a thing for Bella!

With a growl I too made my way out of the water and took a seat on the patio to watch the sun set. This was going to be a really, really long month.

____________

"Die! DIE already!!"

I snickered at Bella's little squeals as she beat the controller angrily with her thumbs. We'd been playing Gears of War for a couple of hours and she really sucked at it.

"Why can't I kill the stupid guys??" She huffed angrily while I made my own character find its way to hers and bring her back to life, for the millionth time.

"Cause you suck." I batted away the pillow that flew at my head. Humans were so obvious.

"I'm taking a break." Bella tossed her controller onto the couch and stood to stretch. She lifted her little arms above her head in a long cat like reach, pulling her little white shirt up just enough for a little sliver of skin to show.

I cursed Heidi and Sasha for their horrible taste in clothes. Everything they had packed for Bella was too little or too see through.

I watched her reflection in the window as she walked into the kitchen and bent over to get a soda out of the fridge. She bent at the waist giving me a perfect view of her butt under the pink skirt she had on.

'What the fuck?!' I swear sometimes I think she does that crap on purpose. Of course she wouldn't think that I'd be watching her reflection while she was in there either.

She came back into the room while I shut off the game console and picked up a magazine. The picture of the bikini clad woman on the cover was not what I needed at the moment so I tossed it down and picked up a different magazine, one with a truck on the front instead; my brain had been thinking too many dirty things lately. I needed some distraction.

"When is everyone going to be back?" Bella was looking out the dark windows, the perfect picture of boredom. The leaves from the palm tree scratched against the window where she stood, mesmerizing her for a moment.

The rest of the vampires had gone back to the mainland for a quick hunting trip, leaving just me and Bella on the island and things had been… tense.

"Probably by morning. It shouldn't take all that long." I didn't look up from my magazine while talking but I could hear Bella sit back down on the couch and pick up the TV remote.

She searched through the movie channels and I was doing a good job of ignoring it too until the cheesy porn music started.

I peaked up at the TV without lifting my head and watched as two horrible actors recited their lines on an obviously cheap set. My eyes shifted to Bella's face to see what the hell she was thinking. I could tell instantly by the bad music, the bad acting, and the bad script that this was soft porn that played every night on cable but apparently she thought it was a legit movie.

I continued on acting like I was reading my magazine anticipating the moment she figured out what she was really watching. A chuckle almost slipped out when the female character sat on a desk in a overly seductive pose. This was going to be good.

It wasn't until both of the actors were totally naked and the low beat of the music got more intense that Bella's eyes got really fucking wide. And when they started screwing each other Bella squealed and started frantically pushing buttons on the remote to change the channel.

If it were possible for me to cry I would have been from how hard I was laughing. Bella turned the color of a tomato and had changed the channel to a Disney cartoon.

"What was wrong with that Bella?" I finally choked out once my laughs calmed a little, a few chuckles still slipped out though.

"The guide said it was The Devil's Apprentice! I thought it was that movie with the guy from the Matrix!" She was stammering, trying to explain why she'd been watching porn.

I rolled my eyes and finally stopped laughing. "That was 'The Devil's Advocate' dumb ass."

Bella's face got even redder, which I hadn't believed to be possible. She rubbed her eyes like she was trying to get the image of two people having sex out of them.

"It's ok Bella. Everyone gets curious about it eventually."

She huffed indignantly while going back to her cartoon. We sat in silence for a while before her little voice broke through it.

"How come the brother's are the only vampires with mates?"

Her question caught me off guard and I had to think about it for a while. I had never really thought about it.

"I don't know." I answered honestly.

"When I become a vampire, will I stop caring about falling in love too?" Her eyes were wide with concern and her thought process finally became clear to me.

She thought that since none of the guards had mates that we didn't care about finding one.

"No. It's not like that…" I thought of how to explain it to her. "As vampires we're pretty limited to who we can date you know? And if you don't find someone in the castle you're sort of out of luck. But it's not like we don't care. It's sort of a big deal when you find 'the one' too."

Her face scrunched up a little while she thought about it.

"I've never had a boy friend you know." She whispered a little this time, like someone might hear her. These things had been coming up a lot lately, the things Bella had never done.

Demetri said it was because she was starting to face her own mortality. Which is kind of ridiculous since she was going to be made immortal in just a few years. I was confused as to why she would be talking to me about this though. Heidi, Sasha and Victoria would be better suited to help her out in this department.

"Well, neither have I."

She smiled at my joke and threw another pillow half-heartedly.

"And here I thought you and Laurent would make a cute couple." Bella smiled evilly at me.

"I'm going to tell him you said that." I threatened her knowing it wouldn't really matter if I did.

I knew that Laurent and Victoria had been pinning away over each other for years but neither had the balls to make a move. Actually, everyone in the castle probably knew by now.

"I guess I'm just scared that I'm going to have to be turned into a vampire without ever really being human you know?" She picked at a string sticking out of her shirt.

So that's what this was all about. Poor kid. I knew what she meant. She was spending her youth surrounded by vampires and pretty much controlled by them, there was no room for normal experiences.

"I don't want to be like Alec and Jane." Bella's nose wrinkled a little at the comment.

That was understandable too. Even though the two miniature vampires were our friends they were also a pain in the ass most of the time. They had been too young when they were turned and never really knew what it meant to be human, so their emotions were a little dulled.

"Don't worry. I doubt you could ever be like that."

The way Bella smiled at me made it clear that she took my observation as a compliment. Then she surprised me even more when she laid out on the couch and rested her head on my lap. The act caught me off guard and all I could think about was how close her head was to my crotch.

It's wasn't my fault! So maybe I was a century old vampire, but I was also a man who was permanently suspended at the age of twenty-three. Those kinds of thoughts just happened.

I fought back and forth in my head over whether or not I should shove her off me. When had she gotten comfortable enough to pull this kind of crap with me anyway? Her eyes were fluttering a little while watching the cartoon on the TV and I decided to just leave her alone.

She hadn't been sleeping well since being on the island and I was sure she was pretty tired. Back in the castle Marcus stayed with her every night; here she was all alone in her room. If she asked any one of the other vampires would stay with her, but Bella wasn't the type to ask.

After I was sure she was completely passed out I carried her up to her room and slid her under the covers of her bed. I thought about leaving but knew she'd be scared if a nightmare woke her up. There was no hiding that crap from the rest of us, we could hear her whimper and cry at night through even the thickest walls.

Her nightmares had gotten better, but not completely disappeared so instead I sat in the window seat and watched her sleep, and drool a little.

When the sun came up I made sure to slip out of the room before she woke up or any one came back to catch me. I didn't need the shit I would get if anyone knew I'd sat in Bella's room all night to keep her from having bad dreams. At least, that's what told myself I was doing.

**BPOV**

Victoria grinned at me as I bent over to pick up my towel off of the sand. I grinned back and made sure that my back was to James and the other guys while I adjusted my bikini bottoms before standing back up.

"Come on Bella, let's go." Demetri appeared at my side and took the towel out of my hands, wrapping it around my waist and glaring over my shoulder.

"What the hell, D?" I chuckled as he ushered me toward the house.

He transferred his scorching glare to me. "Like you don't know what you were just doing."

I shrugged innocently and flopped down on the couch. "Do you guys really have to go hunting again already?" I whined.

"You know the rules B, all your personal slaves have to be well fed so we don't try and take a bite out of you." Laurent laughed as he snatched me off the couch and looked around for someone to toss me too.

No one else was in the room so he would just have to wait until they got back from their hunting trip to play his favorite game.

"Sorry L, we'll play when you get back okay." I soothed him as he pouted at me.

He started to sit me back down but paused and grinned evilly at me. "Who says I need anyone else around to play?"

He threw me toward the empty doorway and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I knew he would never let me hit the floor but it was an uncontrollable reaction. I clinched my eyes shut and braced my body for impact.

A set of stone arms caught me in midair and cradled me gently to a stone chest. I automatically wrapped my arms around my savior and clung to them. I looked up and met James's eyes, he looked livid but at the same time extremely uncomfortable. I took inventory of myself, making sure that nothing was broken or bruised too badly. I noticed that I had lost my towel and the straps of my top had slid down my shoulders. I struggled to get down and after a moment he finally sat me on my feet.

"Thanks." I murmured as I fixed my bikini and looked around for the missing towel.

"No problem. Look we'll be back by the time you wake up in the morning. Sasha is staying with you this time. Try not to get yourself killed before we get back." He smirked at me and turned and left the room.

I glared at his retreating back as I sat back down and turned on the tv. Twenty minutes later I heard the boat leave the dock and Sasha wondered in and sat down next to me.

"What do you want to do tonight Bella?"

I shrugged and kept flipping through the channels. I loved the island and being out of the castle but after two weeks I was starting to get bored. I looked down at my chipped nail polish.

"Will you do my nails?"

"Sure, I'll go get the stuff."

She was back within minutes and started removing the old polish.

"So I noticed that you and Demetri have been spending a lot of time together lately." I said slyly.

"Yeah, for now."

I looked at her questioningly.

"Bella, we don't see relationships the same way humans do. The sex with Demetri is amazing but that's about all it is. I mean I like him and we'll always be good friends but he isn't the one I'm supposed to be with for eternity."

I absorbed this new information. Like everything else in my life since I arrived at the castle this was something else I had to adjust to. The morals and views that I my mother had taught me from the time I was born didn't apply in the vampire world and I had learned to be open minded about my new culture.

"So what about you; are you still denying your feelings for James?"

I sighed. "I don't have any feelings for James. I don't know why you guys think that I do. Besides even if I did he can't stand me."

"Right, that's why he can't stop drooling every time he sees you in your bathing suit." She laughed.

"Hey I said that he couldn't stand me not that he wasn't a guy." I laughed with her. "I really didn't think that he would notice me one way or another but it's a lot of fun to watch him forget how to talk just because I walk past him in a skirt."

We laughed for a minute before Sasha snapped to attention and put her hand over my mouth to keep me quiet. Fear coursed through my body, in the two weeks we'd been here nothing had made any of my protectors react this way. I listened intently, trying to hear what she was hearing. After a moment I heard the faint whine of a boat engine.

"Maybe they forgot something." I whispered.

Sasha looked at me skeptically and shook her head. She was right, what could they have forgotten? They were going to hunt not spend a day in the park; they didn't need anything besides their instincts.

"Should we run?"

"No, you're not going to do anything but stay behind me." She ordered as she crouched between me and the open French doors that lead out to the beach.

I could see four figures moving across the sand toward the house. They weren't trying to hide their approach so either they knew that Sasha and I were the only ones here or they wanted to make sure that they were seen. Sasha growled lowly and backed a step closer to me.

"We mean no harm Sasha." A familiar voice called as the figures stopped just outside the door.

Sasha raised herself from her crouch and bowed to the new arrivals.

"Forgive me master, I did not know you were coming."

"I would expect you to act no differently while protecting my daughter. As you said you did not know that it was me." Aro said, looking at her approvingly.

"Aro? What are you doing here; I didn't think you ever left the castle." I asked as I stepped out from behind Sasha.

"_Figlia_, I missed you and I decided it was time for me to see what all the money we spent on this place actually bought us."

He came over and hugged me.

"Are you here for the remainder of our trip?" I asked, trying not to sulk at having 'adult' supervision on my vacation.

"No, we will be leaving tomorrow when the others return. I am assuming that they have gone to hunt?"

Sasha and I nodded.

"Caius wishes to have Jane and Alec back at the castle; he does not like them not being there." He informed us as he settled himself in an armchair. "Isabella, tell me about your vacation so far."

I told him about everything we'd done so far; snorkeling, swimming, volleyball. He asked a few questions about whether or not I was being taken care of properly.

"I am glad that you are enjoying your gift but now I must speak with Sasha for a moment."

"Okay, I guess I'll go for a walk on the beach." I stood up and kissed him on the cheek.

I hadn't realized how much I'd actually grown to like Aro. He acted like I really was his daughter and I guess I was grateful to still feel like I had a parent. He smiled softly as he watched me retreat to the beach.

I walked along the sand just close enough for the waves to wash over my feet. I knew someone was following me, I could feel their eyes watching me. I shook my head and tried not to get mad at whichever of Aro's guards he'd sent to keep an eye on me; they were only following orders. I don't know what he expected to happen to me, there was nowhere on the island that you could go and not be able to see the house and no one was here except us so who was going to take me?

"You can come out, I know you're there."

I turned around to see who my stalker was. A young vampire stepped out of the shadows of the palm trees and walked toward me. The moon was almost full and I could see him clearly. He looked like he might have been eighteen when he was changed, his dark brown hair came almost to his chin and his face reminded me of Johnny Depp. I couldn't remember seeing him in the castle before and wondered if he was new.

"Hi, I'm Bella." I held out my hand to him. He looked at me oddly for a minute before shaking my hand.

"Chase."

"So Chase, why are you following me?" I asked as I sat down in the sand.

"The master wanted someone to watch you and I volunteered." He replied as he sat next to me.

"Why would anyone volunteer for such a boring job?"

"Not boring." He stared into my eyes as he spoke.

I gave him my best 'you're full of shit look' and laid back.

"Are you new? I don't remember seeing you around the castle before."

"No, I just got back from an assignment I've been gone since before you came to the castle."

"Can you tell me about it?" I asked excitedly. I always wanted to know what kinds of things my friends did when they were sent away from the castle but they would never tell me.

He shook his head. "I don't think you would enjoy hearing about that."

"Fine." I grumbled. We laid there for a few minutes just listening to the waves crash against the beach. "Tell me about yourself Chase, I'm sure you know all about me by now."

"Well, I've been with the brothers for almost twenty years. Usually I guard Marcus unless I'm sent on an assignment. What else do you want to know?"

"Everything. How old were you when you were changed? How long have you been a vampire? Do you like working for the brothers? Do you have a special power?"

He chuckled, making shivers run down my spine. "I was seventeen when I was changed, I've been a vampire for forty years, I enjoy my job very much and yes I do have a special power."

"Aren't you going to tell me what it is?" I smiled up at him.

"Watch."

He helped me sit up and pointed to a piece of driftwood down the beach. I watched in awe as the log rose into the air and spun in a circle.

"Telekinesis." He explained.

"Useful."

Chase and I laid on the beach and talked for hours; I lost track of time and was completely shocked when the sky started to lighten. I was just starting to doze off when Chase sprung to his feet and snarled viciously. There was a chorus of responding growls from somewhere to my left and I stood up quickly and clutched Chase's arm.

"Bella what are you doing? Get away from him!" James shouted.

I sighed in relief sank back onto the sand. "It's alright this is Chase I'm sure you know him."

"I know who Chase is; what the hell is he doing here?" James snapped as he slowly started toward me, never taking his eyes off Chase.

"Aro is here to get Jane and Alec." I replied in the same tone and rolled my eyes at him.

Sasha and another guard were sprinting down the beach toward us but stopped when they saw who was with me.

"You should be in bed." Heidi said gently as she helped me back up and backed away from James and Chase who were still glaring at each other.

"Yeah, I guess I should tell Aro bye before he leaves." I dusted the sand off my back. "Chase thanks for talking to me. I'll see you when I get back home." I kissed him on the cheek before I started back toward the house.

"Bye Bella, I'll come and see you as soon as you get back." He smiled and winked at me.

All the girls and Alec walked back with me leaving the rest of the guys to deal with James and Chase.

"What is James's problem? It's not like I was doing something wrong." I huffed.

They all laughed at me but didn't answer my question.

"You're going to have to tell us all about your night with Chase." Heidi squealed and clapped her hands excitedly.

"Tomorrow." I giggled. I really liked Chase, he was easy to talk to and other than Jane and Alec he was the youngest vampire I'd met so far, both in human years and vampire years. It was nice to have someone close to my age to talk to and did I mention that he looks liked Johnny Depp?!

"Ah good you are back. I was hoping you would still be awake to tell me goodbye." Aro said when we entered the living room. He was still in the same position he was in when I left earlier; I didn't think he'd moved once.

"Goodbye Aro, thank you again for letting me come here."

"Of course _Figlia_, but we will be glad to have you home in a few more weeks." He kissed my forehead.

I said bye to Jane and Alec and retreated to my room. For the first time in months when I closed my eyes I didn't see the feeding room but Chase's face when he smiled at me.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hello everyone in fan fiction land! Thanks for all the support and love you are given Quickbunny and myself. We do love it and e-mail each other all giddy and shit when we read it lol. Anyway, please continue to review and I will try to make James not asshole-ish. Is that a word? Well I just made it up so kiss my butt O.o Please review. Oh and LilyCullen- It's both, James is a jealous fuck and Chase is a douche. XD ~sleepy~_

_Hey guys sorry I didn't realize that this was James's version of Bella's last chapter but I'm here to set it right now so it's okay =P Like Sleepy said, thanks for all the love guys we get so excited when we get reviews!! ~quickbunny~_

"Maybe we should start voting people off, we might go a little faster if we lose some of the dead weight."

Victoria smiled up at me and I was tempted to agree with her. I could probably swim faster than our yacht was going at this point.

"Yo, what's the deal?" I yelled down to Demetri and Laurent. They'd been looking at the engine for a good five minutes already; they had to have an idea of what was wrong.

The two vampires came up through the hole in the deck looking more confused than when they'd gone down.

"I'm not actually sure…" Laurent was wiping his hands on a towel and keeping his eyes conveniently away from Victoria. His manhood was obviously hurting. Demetri had the same calm expression as always. Sometimes I hate how relaxed he always is.

"Ugh, I told you just to let me look at it in the first place."

Victoria huffed down the ladder with Heidi following her, flashing an evil grin. We all knew if anyone on the stupid boat could fix the engine it would be Victoria, but all us guys had to look first anyway.

Sure enough a few minutes later and the engine were purring a little louder and we were moving at a decent speed again.

The island was coming into view just as the sun began to lighten the sky and there was definitely something wrong.

"Hey. Whose yacht is that?" I pointed to the much larger and much newer vessel that was docked where our yacht had been the day before.

"I don't know." Felix was standing beside me suddenly, his eyes wide and scanning the area in front of us.

"No one is supposed to be here. Something is wrong."

I could feel panic welling inside me. Of course I always bitched about having to take care of Bella because let's face it, who would want to hurt her anyway? But now that there was a possibility of someone coming after her it hit me as to just how helpless she really was.

"I'm getting off here, take the yacht around to the dock on the other side of the island and meet us back at the house. Laurent, Alec, Jane- go with her." I barked orders to Victoria and nodded at everyone else to come with me. Everyone's face had taken on a serious expression and they were no longer vampires on vacation but the lethal guards they had been trained to be.

Heidi, Demetri, Felix and I dove off the side of the boat and swam the short distance to the beach, keeping low once we hit land. I could smell Bella, she wasn't too far away and someone else… a vampire.

We came around a cluster of palm trees and I could see them in the dim light. Suddenly the vampire had his arm around Bella and she gave a little squeal of fear. A low growl started in my chest, anger filled my vision making it hard to think for a moment.

When I finally recognized the vampire with her my anger flared almost out of control. What the fuck was he doing here?

"Bella! What are you doing? Get away from him!"

Seeing her there with her little arm wrapped around Chase's made my stomach knot. Bella's voice broke through the tension

"It's alright, this is Chase, I'm sure you know him." She sounded a little irritated, like we'd interrupted something.

"I know who Chase is; what the hell is he doing here?"

Bella must have been confused or something because there was no reasonable excuse for someone like her to willingly spending time with scum like Chase. I walked towards her with every intention of creating space between their two bodies.

"Aro is here to get Jane and Alec." Bella still had the exasperated tone in her voice. It was starting to seriously piss me off.

All of a sudden it seemed like everyone on the island was gathered around us. Victoria had apparently docked the yacht without a problem and their group joined up with ours just as Sasha came running up behind Bella and Chase.

Heidi was gently pulling Bella away from all of us but not before Bella stopped to say good bye to Chase and gave him a kiss on the cheek. What the fuck? I was gone for less than twenty four hours and this is what I come back to? There was no way in hell I was leaving Sasha in charge ever again.

Once Bella was a good distance down the beach I approached Chase, but unlike most of the other guards he didn't flinch away when I got in his face.

"What do you think you were doing with Bella?"

He smiled like the asshole he is and suddenly became very busy watching Bella walk down the beach. No, watching Bella's ass is more like it.

"Do I detect a note of jealousy James?" His smug attitude was just one of the things I hated about that guy.

"I'm Bella's personal body guard, it's my business to know who she's with at all times. Now answer the god damn question."

Chase's smirk fell into a snarl when he looked back at me. He may have shown up here with Aro but I still out ranked him and he had to answer to me.

"Aro told me to follow her while he was talking to Sasha. Bella started to talk to me, is there a problem with that?"

As much as I wanted to bury him in the sand at the moment I couldn't punish him for following an order from Aro.

"Fine. But I don't want to see you near her ever again. That's an order. Do you understand?"

That smug, shit eating grin was back again; making my fists almost itch with the desire to pummel the bastard.

"Bella wants see me again once we're back at the castle. Are you going to deny the little princess of Voltura?"

This time I didn't hold back, but before I could raise my fist a much larger one hit Chase in the cheek. Felix had attacked Chase before any of us knew what was going on. It took Demetri, Laurent and I all to pull him off.

"Bella doesn't need someone like you around her. I'll make sure she knows exactly what you are, and then she won't even want to look at you."

Felix was practically spitting the words at Chase but nothing made a difference. Not his fists or anything he said, Chase just laughed it off.

"Whatever you say Felix."

Aro had appeared on the patio in front of the house with two little vampires and one human in tow; he must have been about to leave.

"Your ride is leaving. Get the fuck out of here."

Chase had already started walking and casually flipped us all off.

The rest of us fell into line as we walked towards the house. Bella was giving Aro a kiss on the cheek and smiling brightly in the morning sun. I tried to convince myself that I didn't want her with Chase simply because I hated him and not because of anything I felt for her, it wasn't working though.

Somehow over the past few months the little human had grown on me. Something about the way she could be surrounded by nothing but vampires and still have the balls to give us an attitude, or the way she didn't let too much shit get her down; if it weren't for the way things had started out we probably would have been friends.

"There is no way we can let Bella hang out with Chase."

Laurent and Demetri both gave me 'the look'. Well, that's what I'd started calling it. It was the same look everyone gave me when I said Bella's name. The one that said a million things that weren't fucking true. I was just looking out for her.

"What?? Bella is too innocent for him. Besides, he's a humongous douche bag."

Laurent snorted and Demetri looked at me like I was stupid. Felix was still in his own little world of anger… he tended to hold on to shit for awhile so we just left him alone to calm down.

"Bella, innocent? Are we talking about the same human?" Laurent had his own smirk now and it was just adding to my irritated attitude.

"Yes Bella, our Bella. She's just a kid. She isn't ready to date, especially not the way we do."

I knew I was right. Vampires didn't look at dating the same way humans did and Bella had looked pretty fucking surprised about that when we talked about it a few nights ago.

"Ok, one- Bella is not innocent. She has spent the past year living with a bunch of vampires. No, living with us! That's even worse. I don't think the Virgin Mary could stay innocent while living in Voltura. Two- I don't think you're worried about Bella dating. I think you're worried about her dating someone who isn't you."

Laurent was nodding along with what Demetri was saying and all I could do was look at him in shock. So maybe he was right about no one being able to stay all pure and shit while living in the castle but I definitely did not think I should be dating Bella.

"You don't know what you're talking about." I shook my head. No way, no how…

"That girl has been showing off her ass all week! I know you've noticed because you practically drool every time she comes bouncing down the stairs in a skirt!"

I cut Laurent off with a smack to the back of his head. "Shut up, I do not drool over anyone. And besides, I was talking about me wanting to be with Bella. It's not true."

"Whatever you say James." Laurent smiled and backed away from me in mock fear.

We had reached the house already even with our slow walking and our conversation would have to wait. I glared at him and Demetri as they exchanged knowing looks and laughed quietly in the door way.

Felix's face looked as shocked as I felt. I was pretty sure we were both playing over the events of the past few weeks in our minds. Inspecting every detail of Bella's behavior for signs of what Laurent had said. And sure enough I could think of plenty of moments when Bella's ass had somehow entered my view without me intentionally looking for it.

I stood on the dock and watched to yacht pull away before I went back into the house, looking for Laurent and Demetri so I could ask them more questions about Bella's need to flash her rear end in my face but found something that almost made me blind with anger.

"What the hell?"

Everyone was standing around looking at each other and the greasy haired, Johnny Depp looking fucker standing in the living room.

"Oh, sorry James. Aro asked me stay behind and keep Bella company for the rest of the trip since we got along so well this morning. He really wants her to enjoy for vacation since she doesn't get out of the castle much, you know?"

Heidi, Sasha and Victoria had to work together to keep me and Felix from jumping Chase.

"Calm down you two! You're just going to make things difficult for everyone if you don't stop!"

Victoria was yelling at us and giving the evil eye at Laurent who quickly jumped up like a loyal puppy dog to help her.

"Yeah. Common… let's just go back down to the beach." He nodded at Demetri who rolled his eyes before stepping up to help usher us back towards the open doors.

"I can't believe he's here. This trip is officially shit." Felix sat on the beach looking really disappointed that he hadn't been able to hit Chase again, I understood exactly how he felt.

"Well he is and if you two don't stop picking fights with him it's going to be your ass! Aro told him to stay so there's nothing we can do about it. Besides, this is supposed to be Bella's birthday present! So don't either of you ruin this for her. We'll figure something out when we get back to the castle."

Heidi had followed us out and had picked up the scolding where Victoria had left off. And she was right; there really was nothing we could do about it now.

I just shook my head and walked away in frustration. Now I was stuck on an island (which I hated) with the human girl I was being forced to watch after, and the one vampire in the castle I hated the most. Definitely the best vacation of my life I thought sarcastically.

________________

The next week was just as horrible as I'd imagined.

Bella and Chase were inseparable everywhere they went. If they weren't messing around in the water they were cuddling on the beach, leaving the rest of us to sit around staring at each other for hours. I hadn't realized just how important Bella had become to our little circle of friends until now. Without her time seemed to pass a little slower.

Chase was monopolizing her time and none of us liked it. At least Sasha had threatened Chase with the amputation of both his arms if he didn't keep his hands to himself, I had gotten tired of watching his hands all over Bella after the first five minutes.

"This has been the longest week of my life." Victoria flicked another playing card into the palm tree outside the open French doors. I'd been watching her make a pattern with them down the trunk of the tree for fifteen minutes and I was ready to claw my eyes out.

"Can't we go home already?"

Felix was balancing a large glass vase on his finger tip while lying on the floor and Heidi was waiting for the perfect moment to knock it over. We were all going a little stir crazy.

"No. This is Bella's birthday present. We can't make her leave early. Besides, there's only two days left. We can make it."

I glared at Sasha just because she was right and I hated it. I wanted to go home more than anyone.

"I'm going for a swim."

The sun was setting behind the water making the whole beach look like it was bathed in red and gold, probably the perfect setting for a romantic evening. When I looked down the beach a little ways sure enough the two love birds of the island were busy sucking face, again.

I waded down into the water and submerged myself while contemplating never coming back up.

Strange ideas had begun forming in my head ever since I saw Bella clinging onto Chase's arm that first day.

Of course I felt protective of Bella, I was ordered to watch over her and she'd grown on me since coming to the castle; but there was more to it. I denied the jealousy for awhile but it worked its way into my brain, infecting all my thoughts.

Every moment that I couldn't see Bella I was imagining what she was doing with Chase. At night when I heard her giggle I wondered just how far they were going. It wasn't any of my business but I still wanted to fucking know. I had finally accepted that Bella wasn't a innocent little girl anymore, but that didn't mean I was ok with her losing her virginity to an asshole like Chase.

I let my body float with the current for a few miles before resurfacing and slowly swimming back to shore. I'd only wasted two hours while out in the water, it felt like an eternity.

Sasha came running out to me while I was toweling off, looking a little excited.

"What is it?" I didn't get my hopes up. It was probably something stupid like Victoria convincing Laurent to climb up the tallest palm tree on the island.

"Go get your stuff! We're going home!"

My head snapped up in shock. "What?"

"Yeah, Bella came in and asked us if we were all ready to head back right after we came out here. Let's go!"

We ran back to the house together and when I came into the living room there was a mess of glass on the floor along with a bunch of vampires running around packing their shit. Bella was sitting on the kitchen counter, practically glowing. I guess puppy love did that kind of crap to a human.

"Shouldn't you be packing?" I asked her with more irritation in my voice than I'd intended. It had been happening all week, but Bella didn't really seem to notice.

"Chase is doing it for me." She just smiled at me like it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. He was probably in there sniffing her panties.

"Whatever"

It took me a whole three minutes to shove all my stuff back into their suitcases before I was carrying it out to the yacht. As I was coming up the ramp Chase was walking towards me.

"I'm a little bit sad to be leaving. This week has been great hasn't it?" He smiled at me mockingly. I wished for the millionth time that it was possible to drown a vampire.

"Up yours."

I kept walking and tried to ignore him, he'd been slipping little comments to me every moment he could and I was learning how to let them bounce off of me, turning myself into a boiling mountain of rage beneath the calm outer exterior I was showing to everyone.

"No, up hers… if you know what I mean. Once Bella and I get back to the castle and get some privacy that is."

When I spun around to look at Chase he was already off the boat. So that was why Bella suddenly had the need to get back to the castle. She didn't want all of us listening in while she got it on with Chase. Fucking typical.

I didn't go back into the house, there was nothing there I wanted to see. While everyone else boarded the stupid boat I found a spot in the back where I wouldn't have to look at anyone.

I promised myself that I could talk to Aro again and get him to take me off babysitting duties with Bella once and for all. It had been long enough; someone else could watch her from now on. This had been the worst vacation of my life.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Sorry guys the chapters are usually up earlier than this but Sleepy and I lost our minds for a bit and got confused as to what we were doing. Anyways we wanted to warn you guys that this chapter contains a sex scene and it's not exactly warm and fuzzy. We hope you'll all review for us and let us know if you like the story or not! And thank you to all our readers who have been reviewing, you guys keep us going! **

**~quickbunny~**

**Disclaimer: WE DON'T OWN TWILIGHT OR THE CHARACTERS!! Except for Chase, he's ours.  
**

Chapter 6 BPOV

I sighed happily as I watched Chase carry in all of my luggage and set in on the sofa in my room. The week that he'd spent on the island with me was amazing. I felt kind of bad for abandoning my friends the way I did but I was pretty sure that they would understand.

Chase seemed to understand me. We had spent hours laying on the sand talking. He'd told me all about his human life, well what he could remember of it; and then about how he'd come to be one of Marcus's personal guards. He could understand better than any of my friends how hard it was to be a teenager and have to deal with the mess my life had become and just talking to him about it made me feel better.

Then there were the times we lay on the sand not talking. I had very little experience with the opposite sex before I came to the castle but Chase was determined to change that. Not that I was opposed to the idea; just the opposite in fact. We'd come home early in the hopes that without 6 vampires with perfect hearing watching over us all the time that we would finally be able to have sex. Every time that we'd come close on the island we would be interrupted by someone.

"Do you need help unpacking?"

"Maybe in a little while." I grinned at him and held my hand out toward him. He smirked at me as he sauntered over to the bed where I was sitting and pulled my knees apart so he could stand between them.

"Well then, is there anything else I can help you with sweetheart?" He whispered in my ear and lightly ran his tongue around my earlobe making me shiver.

I tried to keep my breathing even as my eyes involuntarily closed and my head automatically tilted to the side to give him better access.

"Oh, I'm sure that I can think of something for you to do." I gasped as his lips traveled from my ear to hover over mine.

"I'm so glad that we got off that island so we won't have to be watched twenty-four hours a day. Your babysitters are so annoying."

I huffed in irritation. The only thing that Chase and I disagreed on was my friends. For some reason he couldn't stand any of them.

"I wish you would give them a chance. I think you would really like them if you got to know them."

Instead of saying anything he ran his hands down my back and up under my shirt to lightly trace my spine. Slowly he lifted my shirt and discarded it before pushing me back on the bed. He lay down beside me and started kissing my stomach while running his fingers under the waist of my shorts.

"Bella, I don't think I can stop this time." He growled; bringing one hand up to cup the back of my head.

I yelped when his fingers gripped too hard.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart, I got carried away." Chase hung his head in shame.

Despite my clinging to him he managed to disentangle himself from me and move to the other side of the bed.

"It's alright, you didn't really hurt me. I'm fine I promise. Now come back over here!" I ordered.

This wasn't the first time he'd accidentally hurt me. He seemed to forget to control his strength sometimes. I didn't blame him, some of the others forgot sometimes too; I'm just so fragile compared to them.

The door flew open making me jump and try and cover myself. I dropped my arms when I saw that it was just James. It wasn't like my bikini top covered anymore than my bra did and he'd seen me in a bikini for the past month.

"Bella! What happened to you?" He fumed from the doorway.

I was still absentmindedly rubbing the back of my neck which of course he noticed. He stomped across the room and jerked my head forward so he could inspect my neck.

"It's nothing James, Chase just got carried away. Don't you ever knock?" I yelled.

"I heard you scream; I'm your guard. Besides Aro wants to see you and I need to have a little chat with Chase." He tried unsuccessfully not to look at me as I located my shirt and pulled it on.

"What does Papa want?" I sighed. Chase and I couldn't seem to get a moment alone; we were always getting interrupted by someone. Despite our best efforts we'd never managed to get further than me taking off my shirt and bra.

"I think he wants to know why you wanted to come home early. And Marcus wanted to welcome you back." James informed me; now that I was fully dressed he glared at Chase without sparing me a glance.

"I'll be back in a few minutes baby. Wait for me?" I wrapped my arms around Chase's neck and kissed him.

"Of course."

I started to pull away but he held me to him and kissed me passionately. James growled deep in his chest. I shot him my dirtiest look as I left the room.

I didn't bother knocking on the door to Aro's study since he was expecting me anyway. Caius scowled at me from the corner, he couldn't stand the way I disregarded their typical procedures. Marcus rose from his chair and hugged me.

"We have missed you Bella. I hope you enjoyed your vacation."

"It was so much fun Uncle Marcus; I hope Papa lets me go every year! Maybe next time you can come too."

"I think that we can arrange for this to be an annual vacation _figlia_." Aro spoke from behind his huge desk.

"Papa, thank you again for the trip and for letting Chase stay with me we had so much fun." I skipped around the desk so I could hug him as well, I completely ignored Caius.

"You are welcome _mia dolce_; but why did you return early? Was there a problem?"

"No. No problems, Chase and I just wanted to be somewhere where we could have some privacy." I blushed slightly at my own admission.

"Ahhh I see. I think that I should have a talk with Chase." Marcus looked at me disapprovingly while Aro eyed me solemnly.

"Isabella, do not let anyone pressure you. Perhaps I should not have left Chase on the island with you."

"Aro, no one is pressuring me, Marcus thank you but speaking with Chase isn't necessary. Now if you'll excuse me I still have to unpack." I dashed from the room before either of them could say anything else; muttering to myself all the way back to my room.

James was just stepping into the hall when I reached my door. He paused and looked at me pleadingly for a moment, opening his mouth but then snapping it closed without saying anything, he turned and walked away. I watched him until he reached the door to his room at the opposite end of the hallway and stepped inside, slamming the door behind him. I wondered what he could have possibly spent fifteen minutes talking to Chase about.

"I was starting to wonder if you were coming back to me." Chase said as he pulled me into the room and roughly pushed me against the wall. His lips went to my throat and he pulled my legs up to wrap around his waist.

"What did James want?"

"Nothing, he's just being an ass." He replied as he once again pulled my shirt off and unhooked my bra. "I have to have you Bella, I can't wait anymore."

I moaned as he ripped my shorts off and tossed them over his shoulder.

"Slow down baby, we have all night." I giggled.

"Sorry, I can't. You're killing me and I have to have you now!"

He tossed me onto the bed and for the first time I started to second guess my decision to be with Chase. Before I could say anything he was completely naked and on top of me. I stared up at him in confusion. This wasn't the sweet guy who I had gotten to know over the past week, he was like a totally different person and I was slightly scared of him.

"I'm sorry Bella, this is going to hurt." He looked down at me and tenderly placed kisses all over my face.

I internally shook myself. Chase would never hurt me on purpose. I wanted this with him. I nodded at him and spread my legs so he could settle himself between them. I felt him pressing against my thigh and held my breath as he reached down to guide himself into me. Every muscle in my body tensed as he pushed into me hard and fast. I stifled a scream as tears sprung to my eyes.

Chase moaned and threw his head back as he moved above me. I gripped his shoulders trying to make him stop for a minute but he didn't even notice. I forced myself to breath and after a minute it didn't hurt as much and I tentatively moved my hips up to meet his. Pleasure slowly began to overtake the pain and Chase really seemed to like it when I moved so I kept pace with him. I met his eyes but instead of seeing the sweet, understanding boy I thought I knew there was a predator staring down at me. I shivered and turned my head to the side, trying to convince myself that it was this was MY Chase and he would never hurt me. I had to stifle more screams as his hands squeezed my breasts and pinched my nipples, unsure of whether or not he was meaning to be so rough with me or if he'd forgotten his strength again.

Despite the pain a wonderful pressure started to build in my abdomen as I moaned and arched my back, my fingernails trying and failing to leave marks on his shoulders. I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff and something amazing was waiting for me if I would just jump off. Chase tensed and growled loudly as his body shuddered on top of me. After a moment he pulled out of me and rolled over. I laid there panting and trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Disappointment filled me; surely this wasn't what all the girls kept telling me was so amazing. It had hurt, I was sweaty and probably bruised in several places and I felt thoroughly unsatisfied.

"Thanks baby. I have to go and unpack before I report to Marcus for guard duty tonight." Chase kissed the top of my head as he stood up and got dressed. He left the room without looking at me again.

Glumly I went into the bathroom and filled the tub with scalding water. Suddenly I felt very dirty and had the compulsive need to scrub my entire body. I washed myself repeatedly until there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Bella its Victoria; can I come in?"

"Sure." I mumbled, knowing that I could whisper it and she would hear me.

I stood up and reached for a towel.

"Oh my god Bella! What happened to you?" Victoria screeched from the now open doorway.

I looked down at my body and noticed the bruises that were starting to form on my sides, hips and chest. I guess I was in the bathtub a lot longer than I thought.

"It's nothing Vicky. Don't worry about it." I wrapped myself in the towel and pushed passed her toward my closet.

I dressed quickly and started to lie on the bed but I couldn't bring myself to climb into it; instead I flopped down on the sofa and buried my head in the throw pillows.

"Come on B, tell me what happened. Chase did this to you didn't he? You had sex with him." She pulled the pillow off of my head and forced me to look at her.

I nodded but couldn't say anything because I knew that if I did I would start crying.

"Oh honey, how badly did he hurt you?" She gathered me into her arms and sat down, holding me like I was an infant. "Tell me about it."

I took a deep breath. "I knew that it was going to hurt but I didn't think it would hurt that bad. I don't see what the big deal is with sex anyways; it wasn't all that pleasant."

"He didn't take his time? He didn't make sure you were ready for him before he…" Thankfully she just gave me a significant look instead of saying it.

I shook my head.

"He didn't make sure that you were…satisfied before he left?"

Again I shook my head

"Sweetie, I really wish you would have stayed away from Chase. I know you really like him but trust me he's not a nice guy."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? What has he done that's horrible enough to make a bunch of top Volturi guards who've all done god knows what hate him so much?"

"I think I'll let James tell you that story. I wasn't there but James was. Do you still want to see Chase? We can order him to stay away from you." She smoothed my hair back from my forehead.

"I'm not sure yet, I'll let you know later."

She sat me on the sofa next to her and called Heidi on her cell phone. She talked so fast that I couldn't understand anything she said but a minute later Heidi was knocking on the door holding a clean set of sheets and a few blankets in one hand and a bowl of chocolate ice cream in the other.

"Here B, eat this while we clean up." Heidi handed me the bowl and gave me a sympathetic look.

They'd stripped the bed down and remade it in minutes, having a conversation at vampire speed the whole time. I didn't complain for once because I was pretty sure that Victoria was telling Heidi what had happened and I was grateful not to have to explain things again. Heidi kept glancing toward me and shaking her head angrily.

"…James is going to kill him." Heidi hissed when Victoria was done talking.

I was sitting there staring at them, holding the empty ice cream bowl on my lap.

"Come on Bella, Marcus will be here in a minute so let's get you into bed." Victoria took the bowl from me and pulled me to my feet.

I winced when I took a step but pushed the pain to the back of my mind. I was already humiliated enough without Heidi and Victoria fussing over me anymore than they already had. I crawled into my nice clean bed just as Marcus knocked on the door and Victoria let him in.

"What do you want to hear about tonight Bella?" Marcus asked cheerfully.

I noticed Chase stationed outside of the door but as he scanned the room his eyes passed over me like I wasn't even there. I closed my eyes and forced the tears away.

"Tell me about your wife." I whispered.

Marcus hesitated for a second but then launched into the tale of how he had met his mate.

Jpov

I was coming back from talking to Aro when I heard it, the little yelp of pain that had become a normal Bella sound. Rage boiled up in me as broke off into a sprint towards her room.

"Bella! What happened to you?"

She was rubbing the back of her neck and Chase was sitting next to her looking like the cat that got the canary. Mother fucking bastard.

I pushed her head forward probably a little more roughly than I really needed to but shit, couldn't this girl see an asshole when it was sitting right in front of her? With my eyes I could see the tiny broken capillaries that would turn into bruises soon enough; something else that was becoming a normal look for Bella.

"It's nothing James, Chase just got carried away. Don't you ever knock?"

Bella was giving me her favorite 'I'm a big girl so leave me the fuck alone' look. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I heard you scream, I'm your guard. Besides Aro wants to see you and I need to have a little chat with Chase"

More like I wanted to castrate the greasy little piece of shit. I knew he was hurting Bella on purpose just to fuck with me and I was tired of it. I had seen firsthand exactly what Chase thought of humans and the little game he was playing with Bella was getting old.

It had been easy for someone to interrupt them every time things got too heated on the island but now that we were back in the castle we had no more excuses.

"What does Papa want?" Bella was looking defeated now, foiled again. I smirked at Chase.

She was pulling her shirt on, finally. It was hard to concentrate with her sitting there all half naked and shit. Didn't she know vampires could see through that thin material she called a bra?

"I think he wants to know why you wanted to come home early. And Marcus wanted to welcome you back."

With Bella fully dressed I was able to give Chase the glare I'd been wanting to from the moment I'd come in the room.

"I'll be back in a few minutes baby. Wait for me?"

"Of course."

They were so fucking cheesy it was sickening to watch. Chase pulled Bella into a sloppy kiss; I'm sure she thought that crap was passionate or something stupid like that. I growled in irritation so they would get the point and cut that shit out.

Bella gave me one last look of pure annoyance before leaving the room.

The second the door clicked closed I had Chase pinned to the wall with my hand around his neck.

"Look mother fucker, I know exactly what you're doing and that shit is going to stop or I am going to rip your head off."

I was baring my teeth and so was Chase. Things were getting dangerously close to a full on fight and I wasn't sure if Bella's room would survive.

"Get over it James, Bella doesn't want you. And jealousy is such an ugly trait."

"What the fuck? Talk like a man you pussy. I'm not jealous of shit, I'm Bella's guard and her safety is my responsibility. Besides, she's a little girl you sick fuck. I can't believe The Brother's are even letting this happen."

"Well Bella is the princess, and she gets what she wants. And that's me. So get over it."

With a snarl he pushed me off of him.

I hated it but he was right, for some reason Bella wanted this jerk around and there was really nothing I could do to stop it.

"You can't fool anyone for very long. Bella is going to realize what a loser you are sooner or later and when she does I'll make sure you are on clean up duty in the feeding room for the next hundred years."

Chase got an evil gleam in his eye.

"Are you sure it's such a good idea to threaten me James? After all, I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your precious little human. You would be the one held responsible wouldn't you? For not protecting her… "

"I swear to God, I will kill you." My fists curled into fists, it was so hard to not hit him I could barely think straight due to the effort.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt her too bad. What good is she to me then? I think it's about time our little Bella stopped being so innocent though."

That was it, I was going to kill him and just face the consequences. I took a step forward when the sound of soft little human steps reached me. Bella was almost to her room.

I turned away from Chase and went to the door, holding in my anger so I didn't rip if off the hinges.

Bella looked at me expectantly like she was surprised to see me there. I wanted to tell her exactly what Chase was and why she should stay away from him but she wasn't going to listen to me anyway. I even opened my mouth to tell her but it was useless and I knew it.

If Bella was anything she was stubborn as hell and would probably stay with Chase just to spite me if I told her otherwise.

We all have to grow up some time though right? I hate to leave things like that but Bella would have to learn eventually that some guys are just dicks.

I walked away from her without saying a word and went to my own room down the hall, slamming my door behind her. Whatever, if she wanted to be with that guy then it was her choice. I was just her guard.

Not her boyfriend, not her brother, not even her friend, just a guard. I shoved a stack of papers across my desk sending them fluttering through the room like weird white birds. This shit was so annoying, why did I even care so much?

A knock on my door forced me to calm down fractionally.

"What?" I yanked the door open to Demetri's surprised face.

"Nice." He raised an eyebrow at me and I just walked away, leaving the door open for him to follow.

He looked at the papers that were now covering my floor but didn't say anything about them.

"So, how's it going?"

"What?"

I was not in the mood for Demetri's inquiry. It seemed like everyone who had been on the island had suddenly turned into my own personal therapist.

"Are you uh, feeling all right?"

"I feel fine. What do you want?"

This was getting really fucking ridiculous; couldn't they just leave me alone?

"Well, I was just you know… worried about you."

"There's nothing to worry about. Don't you have something to do other than bother me?"

Demetri was doing a good job of ignoring my rude comments which kind of surprised me, usually by now he would have left me alone; being all attune to people and shit made him a little sensitive.

"Maybe we should go do something. How long has it been since you've gotten out of the castle? Other than buying Bella's birthday present?"

I saw him cringe when he said her name.

"Seriously, why does everyone start acting all weird when they talk about Bella around me?" Demetri shrugged and sighed.

"Come on, let's go get a snack."

"Whatever." I followed Demetri into the hallway where Felix was waiting for us.

"Have you been out here the whole time?"

He just crossed and uncrossed his arms looking slightly agitated by something.

"No."

I ignored his weird attitude for the moment, I'd had enough emotional bonding to last me a lifetime.

We stopped so I could tell Victoria to keep an eye on Bella while I was gone then left the castle to find something to eat.

Demetri had been right; it had been so long since I'd been out of the castle and not had to worry about Bella. It felt pretty good. And it had been even longer since I had gotten to hunt on my own. Heidi usually took care of that, but you couldn't really call what she did hunting. It didn't count when the people didn't fight back.

We'd been outside the castle for a few hours and I was feeling pretty damn good after my meal. Ever since Bella came to the castle I'd had weird feelings whenever I ate.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was about to go all veggie like those weirdo's out in the states; but it was hard to ignore the fact that I was ending a life all of a sudden. I had been all worried about being gentle and crap when I ate now.

Stupid little human, she was starting to turn me into a fucking cry baby or something. I might as well start letting Sasha and Heidi paint my nails.

"What are you thinking about?"

Demetri was giving me an odd look as we walked back to the castle, I just shook my head. There was no way I was about to talk about that, especially not with Felix right there. He'd never let me live that down.

As soon as we were through the doors of the castle Victoria was there with the fakest smile I'd ever seen plastered across her face.

"Did you guys have fun?"

Demetri, Felix and I exchanged looks. Why the hell did she care? When Demetri gave Felix a dark look I didn't miss it.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing! I just came to say hi. Now that you're back I can take off for awhile right? Ok see you later!"

Victoria waved and took off.

"What the hell is with her? She can't leave the castle, the sun is coming up."

I gestured at the window next to me but Demetri were still wearing the dark looks that said they knew something I didn't.

"What the fuck. Spill it."

"Um, well… we're pretty sure that um… Bella and Chase did it while we were gone."

"Did it?" I looked at them both with my mouth open stupidly.

"Well of course they did. It was the whole reason they wanted to come home early. Are you two retarded?"

I walked away angrily. There was no need for them to tip toe around that. I already knew it was going to happen eventually.

When I reached the hallway where my room was I could see Heidi standing outside Bella's door.

"What are you doing?"

She just shook her head at me and looked down at her feet. I walked over to where she was standing.

"Why are you guarding Bella's door? Where is Marcus?"

Heidi pursed her lips together in a pained expression.

"He left a little while ago…"

"So why are you waiting here?"

"Just in case."

God dammit, if people didn't start giving me answers then so help me! I opened my mouth to yell at Heidi but she finally rolled her eyes and spoke up.

"I'm making sure Chase doesn't come back." She snapped.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm making sure he doesn't come near Bella."

"Does Bella know this?" I was thoroughly confused by that point.

"No, but until she specifically tells me she wants to see him I'm not letting him near her."

I closed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair.

"How bad is it?"

"Ugh, that jerk covered her in bruises! I mean seriously, we all forget how delicate Bella is sometimes but what he did was uncalled for James. And he didn't even… wait for her to you know. Before he finished."

Heidi was gesturing with her hands and raising her eyebrows to get me to understand. I pushed her out of the way and threw open the door behind her.

Light was just starting to pour through Bella's windows and she blinked sleepily at me as I approached her bed.

"James? What time is it?"

She sat up gingerly and winced with each movement. I held in a growl as I yanked her covers back.

There were dark purple bruises all over her legs and arms that disappeared beneath her clothes.

"You let him do this to you?" I knew I was gawking at her but I couldn't help my disbelief. "Why didn't you call for someone to come help you?"

She was blushing furiously and yanking the covers back over herself.

"Because I didn't need any help! It's not like he forced me into anything."

"Bullshit. Bella I know you think when he hurts you it's all a mistake and that he just forgets but that's crap. We are all very aware of our strength and how careful we have to be with you. This…" I pointed at a particularly dark bruise. "… Is on purpose."

She shook her head angrily. "Shut up James. You don't know what happened."

"Maybe not, but I know Chase. He doesn't care about humans."

Bella was about to yell at me again and it just pissed me off even more that she wasn't listening to me when I was just trying to look at for her.

"I've seen it firsthand Bella. We were sent to investigate a vampire who was keeping human slaves. Our orders were to bring the humans back alive to be questioned but Chase decided to mess with the two women we found there first. He did worse things to them than the vampire keeping them ever had."

She just looked up at me all fucking surprised.

"Needless to say they never made it to the castle and I had to take the blame since I was the one in charge. He just laughed about it the whole time. Chase thinks humans are weak and only good torturing and eating. The only reason he even looked at you twice was because some day you'll be a vampire and you're close to the Brother's."

Before I said anything else that might hurt Bella's feeling even more I left the room with her staring after me.

I wasn't sure what to do. I knew Bella didn't like people making decisions for her but she'd just shown me that she was still too immature to see through Chase's lies. Even after what he'd done she was still defending him.

It was my duty to protect Bella and in this case it meant keeping her safe from herself. No matter what she said I was going to make sure Chase never came near her again.


	8. Chapter 8

**quickbunny: Welcome back for another week, Laura and I are excited about this chapter! We can't wait to see what your reaction is going to be. Be sure to review and tell us what you think!! ~Manda**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Twilight!**

Chapter 7 BPOV

Weeks went by and the only time I would see Chase was on the nights he was guarding Marcus and would check my room when Marcus would come to sit with me. He never spoke or looked at me and each time I saw him I became more ashamed of myself and disgusted with him. How could someone be so sweet one day and so cold the next? I never went anywhere in the castle without one of my friends because I honestly didn't want to have to talk to him. I guess the whole experience was just another lesson in vampire relationships. I tried to act like it didn't bother me and each day it got a little easier.

About a month after our return from the island Chase disappeared. I knew that James had something to do with it and so did all of my friends but no one would tell me what James had done to him.

James was guarding me in the library when Aro himself came storming in with Victoria in tow and ordered James to go to the throne room.

"What's going on Papa?"

"Nothing for you to worry about figlia; Victoria will stay with you until we are finished with James." He said absently as he left the room.

I looked questioningly at Victoria who just shrugged and looked as surprised as I was.

"What do you want to do until he gets back?" She asked smiling.

"Well, I was finishing my homework and James was sitting there glaring at me and huffing because apparently I'm boring. But I just finished so…"

Aro had hired private tutors that came three times a week. The best thing about it was that each of my friends picked a subject to take with me so I wouldn't have to do them alone. James was the only one who refused to take classes with me but I'm not sure if I consider him a friend; I really can't describe mine and James's relationship other than he's my bodyguard.

I looked around the room and shrugged. "I was planning on reading for awhile just to annoy James but I don't really feel like reading right now. Let's go to the game room and see what everyone else is doing."

She chuckled as she helped me onto her back and took off running. "When are you guys going to admit that you like each other and quit torturing yourselves?"

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see me but didn't answer. I was so used to the teasing by now that I didn't respond to it anymore.

"Oh you stupid motherfucker; I said go left!" Felix's outraged cry could be heard from halfway down the hall.

"Well, at least we know there's someone in there." I giggled.

Watching Felix play video games was one of my favorite pastimes. I didn't particularly like playing them myself but I love to listen to him curse the TV when his characters didn't do what he wanted them to. I'd lost count of how many controllers and TV's we'd gone through just since I'd been in the castle and I swore that I was going to buy him stock in Sony for Christmas this year.

Victoria helped me down and we cautiously entered the room, weary of flying controllers. Felix glared at the TV for a moment before calmly looking over at us.

"I really hate this game."

I laughed. "Why are you playing it then?"

"Because there wasn't anything else to do besides let Jane beat me at pool again." He pouted. "But you're here now." He grinned evilly at me.

"Oh no, I don't know what you have planned but I'm pretty sure I don't want to be a part of it."

"Come on B, you know you want to help me switch all of James's truck magazines with 'Good Housekeeping and 'Vogue'."

I pretended to think about it for a moment. Of course I wanted to help him prank James but I wanted to make him beg for a little while.

"Please Bella! I'll…do all of your algebra homework for a week."

"Deal! Now what exactly do you want to do?" I asked, pleased that I wouldn't have to suffer through unintelligible math for a week.

"I want to put the covers of his magazines on these." He held up a handful of 'Good Housekeeping' and various fashion magazines with their covers removed.

"And you promise to protect me from his retaliation?"

"Of course B, I would never let him do anything to my little sister." He gave me an angelic smile that I didn't believe for a minute.

--------------------------------------------------------

It took us half an hour to replace all of James's magazines even with Felix working at vampire speed.

"What could one person need this many magazines for?"

"We get bored easily and he refuses to throw any of them away." Felix mumbled distractedly.

I looked over to see why he was so preoccupied all of a sudden. He'd been chatting my ear off the whole time but had gotten quiet about five minutes ago. I dropped the magazine in my hand and nearly fell off James's bed laughing.

Somehow Felix had managed to staple about six magazines to his pants and cloak while reattaching the false covers.

"How…how did you manage to do that?" I gasped through my laughter.

"I don't know but you'd better help me because he should be back anytime." He hissed.

I sobered up slightly but still giggled the entire time I was helping him free himself from the staples. Leave it to Felix to do something so…human. I finally managedto get all the staples out and put the last covers on. We slipped out the door and ran down the hallway to my room. Not thirty seconds later we heard James stomp down the hall mumbling to himself. We rushed over to my sofa and turned on the TV; trying to make it look like we'd been there for awhile. Just as I was getting into the show that happened to be on there was a harsh knocking on my door.

"Well at least he's learned to knock." I smiled grimly at Felix as I got up to open the door for what was sure to be an irate James.

I opened the door and took one look at James before slamming it shut. "Run Felix!" I shouted as I threw myself on his back, giggling madly.

Felix jumped out the window and into the garden below. I could hear James chasing us and knew that it wouldn't take him long to catch us and with my uncontrollable laughter we had no chance of hiding. We sprinted through the garden and Felix leapt over the pool making me squeal and causing several passing guards drop into crouches and prepare to join the chase until James called them off. We dashed past Jane and Alec who were standing in a doorway enjoying the show we were putting on.

"Felix, there's Demetri. He'll help us!"

I was starting to lose my grip on his neck and the humor was quickly turning into panic. I didn't know how fast Felix was running but I was pretty sure that I would get hurt pretty bad if he dropped me on the cobblestone path. But before we could make it to Demetri my sweaty hands lost their grasp on the front of Felix's robe and I tumbled backwards. I clinched my eyes shut and prepared to myself to meet the ground. But once again James saved me. He must have been a lot closer to us than I'd thought.

All traces of anger were removed from his face as he frantically tried to make sure that I hadn't broken anything.

"Bella, does anything hurt?"

"No, I'm okay. I'll probably have a few new bruises tomorrow but nothing I'm not used to." I smiled up at him as I tried to stand up but it quickly turned into a grimace when I straightened my back. I'd hit my ribs pretty hard on James's arm when he'd caught me.

James pressed gently on my right side to make sure nothing was broken; after reassuring himself that I was just bruised he handed me to Jane and turned on Felix again.

"What the hell were you thinking? You know how breakable she is!"

"I'm so sorry B!" Felix shouted as he sprinted away again; James closing in on him by the second. I knew that now that I wasn't with them anymore James would kick Felix's ass when he caught him.

Jane helped me back to my room and then left to make sure that if James tore off any of Felix's limbs that they would be put back in their rightful places to heal. No one wanted to go through another week of Felix with his right hand on his left arm and his left on his right arm again. I'd been there when Aro had finally made him fix it and I didn't want to see that again.

----------------------------------------

"I don't care what you say Alec 'Angels and Demons' is so much better than 'The DaVinci Code'!" I argued for the hundredth time.

"Whatever Bella; we'll just have to disagree I guess." He laughed.

I rolled my eyes but nodded in agreement. I loved arguing with Alecbut after two weeks of not being able to move on my own I really wanted to get out of the library. Aro had made me see a doctor about my bruised ribs and I was told to take it easy for a few weeks while they healed so of course everyone had taken that to the extreme and I wasn't even allowed to walk to the bathroom by myself. I looked longingly out the windows at the orange and red leaves on the trees. Fall was one of my favorite times of the year; I loved the short time the leaves changed colors before dying and I was stuck inside missing it.

"Just a few more days B." Alec patted my head as he stood up to leave the room. He understood my need to get out of the castle if only to escape to the gardens for a few hours.

"Hey Alec, are you ever going to tell me what happened to Chase? It's been almost two months since I've talked to him and he disappeared almost three weeks ago. I know James had something to do with it and that Papa and the brothers know about it so why is everyone hiding it from me?"

"You'll have to ask James about it again Bella. I don't exactly know what happened to Chase but I do know that you'll never have to worry about him again." He gave me a grim look and quickly closed the door behind him before I could say anything else.

I decided that I was going to get to the bottom of the Chase mystery once and for all. I figured that James had killed him and after hearing what Chase had really been like I couldn't find it in myself to feel sorry for him. But still James couldn't just go around killing everyone who didn't treat me like the 'princess' that I was supposed to be.

I reveled in the fact that I was alone for the first time in weeks as I marched up the stairs and down the hall to the game room. I knew that James would be in there, lately if he wasn't hovering over me or on guard duty for the Brothers then he was playing video games with the guys.

**JPOV**

Demetri and I were watching Felix fish another xbox controller out of the T.V. screen and trying not to laugh; we didn't want him to throw the other controller at us. We had been playing Call of Duty for awhile and Felix was just a sore loser. Our game was officially over though, what with the TV being broken and all. It was the fourth one we'd been through since the game had come out and I was pretty sure we were going to have to buy the next one ourselves.

I'd left Bella with Alec for the afternoon and was getting some much needed down time. Ever since Bella's accident I'd been following her around like she was made of glass and snapping at anyone who got too close to her. I honestly hadn't even realized it until Demetri pointed it out to me. I couldn't help it though, she was just so fragile.

Of course Bella's injury hadn't been my fault but that didn't stop me from feeling like shit after it happened. I just keep telling myself that if I hadn't been there to catch her it would have been a lot worse. And don't think I didn't ream Felix a new asshole after that. If he hadn't pulled that stupid ass prank with my magazines none of it would have happened.

Heidi came in and gave the shattered television screen a knowing look before announcing that dinner had arrived. Good thing too because I had been finding Bella's scent to be a little more appetizing than I should have for the past few hours. After a few months of her being in the castle I had pretty much gotten over her scent and could control my hunger around her like it was nothing but I'd let myself go too long between feedings this time.

We were all about to leave the game room when it hit me; the burning in my veins that said a human was near. I looked around at my friends and none of them seemed to notice. It wasn't just any human, it was Bella. She came through the door with her cheeks all flushed from the long walk and smelling fucking amazing. My jaw clenched around the flood of venom that was filling my mouth.

When I noticed that Alec wasn't behind her my split second temper flared.

"What the hell? Where's Alec?"

Bella ignored my question and came storming over to me with that look in her eyes that said she was angry about something. It was a look I had grown accustomed to, especially since it was usually because of something I'd done.

I was too busy being pissed off at that little shit for brains vampire that was supposed to be with her to really care though. Alec knew Bella wasn't supposed to be walking around right now. My rage was quieted when she got close enough for me to touch though; her scent was driving all rational thought from my brain.

"We need to talk."

I ran a hand through my hair and shifted my weight from side to side uncomfortably. Why did she have to smell so damn good?

"Right now isn't a good time." I knew my voice sounded strained; I was having a difficult time talking without taking a breath in.

Bella scanned the room and raised an eye brow at the three other vampires who were shamelessly watching our little scene. They all three turned and left the room in a flash. Bella was the only human I had ever seen a vampire run from.

She turned back to me and crossed her arms over her chest. "I want to know what happened to Chase."

_Shit. _I knew this would happen eventually but I was hoping for a time when I wasn't in need of a feeding.

"I told you before; he was sent out on a scouting mission."

"That's crap. You and I both know that The Brother's personal guards never get sent out on missions that last longer than a day or two."

She lifted her eyebrow again and stuck out her jaw in impatience. I swear that in my lifetime I have been through some seriously fucked up shit. We're talking blood crazed vampires trying to rip off my head and having boulders the size of cars thrown at me, but this little girl scared me more than anything.

If it had been anyone else I wouldn't have hesitated to tell them that I'd killed Chase, but it was Bella and she was going to hate me for it. I didn't want Bella to hate me, not anymore.

My thirst was making it too hard to think up anymore lies though so I just gave in.

"Look, Bella…" I rubbed the back of my neck for some reason; it was a stupid human habit that I had never lost. "That guy had it coming a long time before anything ever happened between you two. It was just a matter of time before someone took him out ok?"

This time both of Bella's eyebrows shot into the air and her mouth dropped open.

"What do you mean 'took him out'?"

Her voice was sort of squeaky but I knew better than to make a joke at the moment.

"I mean that I killed him." I shrugged and rubbed my neck a little more.

That was it, I told her and she was either going to forgive me or she wasn't. She carried herself over to the couch and sat down. Her face was pulled into a tight frown and she was chewing on her bottom lip all thoughtfully.

"I want to know exactly what happened."

"No, you don't Bella. Just let it go ok?"

Bella shook her head angrily and gave me that stubborn teenager look. She wasn't going to back down this time. I'd been avoiding her questions for months now and I could tell she'd had enough. I sat down on the chair across from her and told her the whole story without skipping any details. If she wanted to know exactly what had happened then fine, I would tell her.

***

"_You better not be late this time. My shift ends as soon as Marcus leaves the human's room and I don't want to be waiting around again. Got it?"_

_Chase was barking orders to another one of Marcus' private guards as I came around the corner. I heard his comment about 'the human' and bit back a snarl. The asshole couldn't even refer to Bella by name. _

_They were standing outside by the stables and I couldn't see anyone else around. The other guard just gave some smart ass remark and took off. This was my chance to settle things once and for all._

"_What the hell do you want?" _

_He knew I was there without even looking. I had expected that though, it wasn't like I was trying to hide from the bastard._

"_I came to see what your fucking problem is. I told you to stay away from Bella."_

_Chase finally turned around to face me and didn't look very happy about it._

"_What do you want me to do? Marcus has to go babysit the little whore every night and I am assigned to him." _

_I balled my hands into fists and cocked my head to the side; trying to control my anger._

"_I told you before; I don't care what you have to do just stay away from her. Get someone to trade shifts with you or something."_

"_What's wrong James? Are you worried she's gonna start missing the cock and come back to me? You're just trying to keep me away from her so that the next time she get's horny she comes lookin' for you right?"_

_He was laughing and swinging his greasy ass hair all over the place when my punch landed on his jaw. I caught him by the neck and pinned him to the wall._

"_Listen to me asshole. You do not talk about Bella, you don't look at her, you don't even fucking think about her. I let things go too far before because Aro and the rest of them were ok with it but it's not going to happen again. Bella is mine you got that? I am the one who takes care of her, I make sure she has food and that she is safe. More than Aro's or Marcus' or anyone else's she is mine and I will not let you hurt her again."_

_I waited while that sunk in for both of us. What I had said was true, I had just never really thought about it before. Bella wasn't the castle's pet human, she was my human; and she wasn't a pet. Over the past year and a half I had become more than Bella's guard. My whole world revolved around her and as much as I hated to admit it I was happy for it. _

_Yes she was annoying and stubborn and immature but she was mine. _

"_Don't kid yourself James. She'll never want you the way she wanted me. You don't know how to rub her the right way." _

_Even from his position against the wall Chase had the balls to defy me. Besides, that wasn't why I cared about Bella. It wasn't about Bella wanting me or liking me or any of that shit. It was about keeping her safe, physically and emotionally. Chase was a threat to both of those things._

"_I'm just sad I never got a chance to get her to go down on me. I bet she gives great-"_

_Chase never got to finish his sentence. I pulled back my right hand and hit him so hard that his head went through the stone wall behind him. With each punch it went a little further until it wasn't attached to his body anymore._

_My breaths were coming out short and heavy from all the rage inside me. I let go of his body and let it drop to the dirt with a thud. His head was still lodged into the wall._

_Behind me a vampire stopped, I could sense their eyes on me. When I turned around a guard in a black robe was looking from me to the body on the ground to the hole in the wall in shock._

"_Take care of this before the body starts to crumble." I ordered, waving a hand at the lifeless body on the ground. I started to walk away when I remembered Chase's head._

"_And don't forget to get the skull out of the wall." I yelled over my shoulder. _

_***_

Bella's face hadn't changed from the concentrated frown the entire time. I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting. Tears, anger, a squeal of joy… something. She had just found out that I'd killed the closest thing to a boy friend that she'd ever had; there had to be some emotion in there.

After a few minutes of her chewing on her lip and thinking really fucking hard about something she finally took a deep breath and leaned back into the couch.

"Do Aro and The Brother's know?" She eyed me with a look of worry.

"Yeah, I talked to them already."

Actually, I had tried to avoid dealing with them for as long as possible. I knew Marcus would want my head in return for Chase's, that's just how he is. An eye for an eye and shit.

"What did they say?" Bella was about to chew threw her fucking lip and my stomach was twisting into a ball while I tried not to think about blood. Couldn't she just chill the fuck out for a second?

"They were pissed at first until Aro read my mind. When he saw what Chase had said he just nodded and said he agreed with my actions. Caius didn't really care either way and Marcus was mad that he lost a guard but in the end they decided to let it go."

Ok, so not really. I'd been warned that if I ever took the life of a vampire in the guard without direct consent from one of them I'd be torn limb from limb and thrown into the fireplace Perfectly understandable and pretty fucking lenient considering who I was dealing with. I'd just bowed my head as far as it could go and got the hell out of there after that.

Bella had gone back to thinking about everything and my impatience was growing. What more could she want to know?

"Is it bad that I'm not sad?"

My head snapped up in shock and I instantly felt like a jerk. She looked so guilty you'd think she had been the one to kill Chase.

"What? Hell no! Why should you be sad for that asshole? He treated you like shit and he never cared about anyone other than himself. I should have killed him a long time ago."

I had to hold back a laugh. Bella worried about the weirdest shit.

"But you didn't kill him before. You killed him because of me." She said it as a statement, not a question. I just nodded my head, not understanding where she was going with it.

"James. I know you felt the need to protect me but… you can't just go around killing people."

"Uh, you know Bella; I do go around killing people. All the time actually."

Speaking of which, I really needed to get out of there. The pulse in Bella's neck was starting to mesmerize me and the steady beat of her heart was getting louder in my ears. She just rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration.

"That's not what I meant! I know that you have to kill people sometimes, not that I like it; but I meant you can't just kill any vampire who hurts my feelings! It was bound to happen someday. It's part of life."

She crossed her arms over her chest again and stared me down. I was tired of fighting and needed to get the hell out of there.

"Ok. I promise not to kill another vampire for you unless they are trying to kill you."

With one hand over my dead heart I made a mock salute and stood up.

"Now I seriously have to go."

Bella jumped up and grabbed a hold of my arm. Her warm skin on mine made my entire body tense. Before I could control myself I pushed Bella against the wall and pressed my face against her neck. My jaw was clenched so tightly I was half expecting my teeth to shatter.

My breath was coming in heavy pants as I struggled to control myself. I could hear Bella's heart beating faster with fear and surprise.

'_Dammit! Get some fucking control.' _My thoughts were almost incoherent as the need to taste Bella's blood in my mouth took over.

"James." Her little voice came out all shaky and breathless.

It snapped me back to reality partially. She put her hands on my arms and began speaking so softly and soothingly. My body began to relax slightly.

"It's ok James. I know you are strong enough to resist. It's ok, it's ok…."

I took one long deep breath of her scent, my lips parted and brushed against the soft skin of her neck. Her pulse was pressing against my mouth with each heartbeat. Bella gasped a little when my tongue ran over the thin piece of skin covering the large vein in her neck, the one that had been putting me into a trance.

"It's ok, it's ok." She was still chanting and it must have been working because I was able to pull away from her. I was sure she was talking more to herself than me at that point though.

"I'm so sorry Bella."

Her eyes were wide and scared but she just nodded. I hated myself for losing control like that. My hands were still pinning her shoulders to the wall, she would probably have huge fucking bruises from it. Knowing that I had just ruined everything and that I would be removed as her guard was making my lifeless heart feel like it was being ripped out of me. I'd never expected to feel so sad about losing her.

I stepped away from her and ran without stopping until I reached the feeding room. There were still sounds of screaming and crying coming from inside and I thanked God that there was still someone alive. Thirst was turning me into an animal, I threw open the door and attacked the first person I came into contact with. I couldn't even tell you if it was a man or a woman.

While I drank I swore to myself that I'd never scare Bella like that again, ever.

**Sleepy: OH shiznit! James owned Chase's face, literally. Bwahaha. Bella's not gonna be happy when she finds out is she Manda?? hehe... And here's a little spoiler, James' soft side comes out in the next chapter.  
AAwww. Please review. If you don't I might have to kill another vampire, and it might not be a greasy mother fucker this time. O.o Ok, off to feed another baby some lunch!!  
-Laura**


	9. Chapter 9

**quickbunny: Laura and I decided to give you the chapter early this week. We would like to say we're doing it to be nice but really we're just as excited as you all for the next chapter to go up so we can see what you guys think about it so don't forget to review!! Since we won't post again until the Monday after Easter we hope that those of you who do celebrate Easter have a wonderful holiday and those of you who don't have an amazing weekend!! ~Manda~**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Twilight.  
**

Chapter 8 BPOV

Tinsel hung so thick from the ceiling that you couldn't see the plaster and there was a Christmas tree in every room. Heidi and Sasha had gone slightly overboard with the decorations again this year. They had told me that before I'd come to the castle that Christmas hadn't been celebrated there in centuries so they were trying to make up for all the Christmas's that they'd missed.

Everyone was running around, frantically trying to find last minute gifts and the tension was high despite the holiday cheer filling the air. I was rhythmically pounding my head against the wall trying unsuccessfully to think of a gift for James. I didn't want to ask any of my friends for help because then I would have to listen to their teasing for the next six months so I was on my own. I glanced at the clock; midnight. I only had one more day to find the perfect gift.

Marcus hadn't been staying with me at night for almost three months now. The nightmares had gone away but I missed the stories he would tell me to help me fall asleep. We still met once a day in the library so we could talk or just sit and read together. I thought of going to him for help with my gift problem but decided that he wouldn't have any suggestions.

I sighed and mentally prepared myself for the torture I was about to unleash upon myself. I slowly dragged my feet down the hall and knocked on Heidi's door.

"Come in Bella."

"Heidi, I need help." I said as soon as I stepped into the room. No sense in prolonging the agony, I might as well just get it over with.

"Sure, what can I do?" She asked distractedly as she sorted through a huge pile of gifts.

"I need help finding a gift."

"James?" She stopped what she was doing and seemed to hold her unnecessary breath.

I nodded and looked pleadingly at her.

"Sheesh B, you could have picked someone easier to wait until the last minute to shop for." She slumped to the floor and rubbed her forehead.

"Sorry. I didn't know if I was even going to get him anything but I want to so can you help or not?"

"Well, what kind of gift do you want?"

"Something that he'll like?" I shrugged helplessly.

"You could give him a used tissue and he would like it because it came from you." She mumbled. "Electronics?"

"No, I thought of that but he's got every electronic device on the market."

"Video game?"

I shook my head. "The new one that he wants won't be out for another two months."

"Jewelry?"

I gave her a skeptical look. I'd never seen James wear jewelry and I didn't think he would start just for me.

She jumped up and grabbed her cell phone, after a brief conversation she grabbed my arm and headed for the door. "Come on B, we're going shopping!"

"Heidi, I'm not buying him jewelry! He'll never wear it."

"Sure he will B, you just have to find him the right thing. Now come on, I've already called Lucio and had him open the store for us!"

She must have been really excited because she didn't even notice that I was wearing my pajamas as she dragged me down the hallways and out into the empty street. Over the past six months or so Aro had been letting me leave the castle but only for short periods of time and I had to be heavily guarded and wearing a disguise. I thought it was overkill but didn't argue with him.

Heidi stopped in front of a glittering storefront and knocked on the door impatiently. Lucio came running through the store and unlocked the door.

"Heidi, it's wonderful to see you again! What can I help you with tonight?"

"We need to see your men's jewelry." Heidi barked.

The man looked adoringly at her and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. She was treating him like something that was stuck to the bottom of her shoe and he loved her for it. I guess when someone had spent as much money as Heidi had in his store they could treat him however they wanted to and he would still come out in the middle of the night a day before Christmas and open his store for them.

"Is there something I can help you find? Something for one of the leaders?"

"No, Bella needs to find something for her…friend." Heidi informed him.

"Ah beautiful Bella, this is a very special friend no?"

I sighed, not only had he called me 'beautiful Bella', like I'd never heard that before, but he'd managed to tease me about James and he didn't even know us.

"Yes I suppose you could say that he's special. But he doesn't wear jewelry, I tried to tell Heidi that but she wouldn't listen. I'm sorry you had to come out this late for us but I don't think we'll find anything for him here."

He shook his head as he stepped behind a glass case and opened it. "We just need to find the right piece for him." He mumbled.

Heidi smirked at me as she examined a display of necklaces. "What do you think B; watch, ring or necklace?"

I glared back at her. "Well you know James doesn't pay attention to the time and I can't see him wearing a ring so…necklace it is I guess."

We looked through display after display of necklaces but none of them were right. When we got to the last display I was bored and knew that I wasn't going to find anything for James here.

"Ohh Bella, look at this!" Heidi held up a diamond-encrusted pendant that made me cringe. James would never touch it much less wear it.

I shook my head at her making her sigh in annoyance. "What's wrong with this one?"

"He'll never wear that. Let's just go Heidi, I told you James doesn't wear jewelry; we're not going to find anything for him here."

I scanned the case again while I waited for Heidi to put the necklace back; my eyes landed on a pendant tucked into the corner that I had overlooked before. It was platinum, shaped like a dog tag with a gold dragon engraved into it and it had a single diamond placed in the center of the dragon. I picked it up so I could examine it more closely. I'd been studying mythology with one of my tutors and dragons were supposed to symbolize power, courage and protection. It was the perfect representation of James.

I heard Heidi gasp as she looked over my shoulder. "Bella, it's perfect."

"You think?"

"I know. He's going to love it! Now let's find a chain for it then get you back to the castle before anyone realizes that I took you out."

We quickly picked out a platinum beaded chain and paid a heart stopping amount for what I hoped was the perfect gift for my…bodyguard? Then Heidi carried me back to the castle on her back so I wouldn't slow us down.

"Thanks for helping me Heidi and for not teasing me about it." I hugged her after she helped me off her back.

"No problem B and I won't tell the others; your secret is safe with me." She winked at me over her shoulder as she skipped back down the hall.

----------------------------------

The next day passed in a flurry of wrapping paper and more decorations; we tried everything to get Heidi and Sasha to stop but they always insisted that the room wasn't complete without one last ribbon or garland. Finally James threatened to make them take humans on the legitimate tours of the main parts of the castle that were given to tourist three times a week if they didn't stop. They mumbled and complained behind his back but didn't hang a single decoration after that.

I was trying to figure out how I was going to give James his gift. He refused to be alone with me after the little incident in the game room and I was starting to get really pissed at him. I didn't want to give him the necklace in front of everyone because then the teasing would never stop plus I wanted to explain to him what the dragon means. I went to Heidi again for help and she promised that she would figure something out.

Christmas morning arrived and I was woken up by a large vampire bouncing on my bed.

"BELLA, BELLA, BELLA WAKE UP!!!"

"Go away Felix." I mumbled and tried to burry my head under the pillows but he pulled them away from me and started beating me with them.

"I want to open my gifts!" He whined and gave me puppy dog eyes.

"Ugh fine! How old are you anyway?"

I rolled out of bed and pushed him out of my room so I could get dressed. Since Heidi wasn't allowed to decorate the castle she'd apparently decided to decorate me instead; I held up the bright red and green sweater and grimaced. There was no way I was going to wear something so hideous. I tossed the sweater aside and ran to my closet.

"NO!" I moaned. Heidi had taken everything out of my closet leaving me with the horrible sweater, a pair of jeans and a tight red dress. She was a sneaky little thing; I would have to enlist help to get her back for this. I sighed as I put on the dress; even with my limited options I wasn't wearing that sweater. I noticed that she had conveniently left the perfect shoes on the floor beneath the dress. I quickly brushed my hair and applied my make-up, knowing that if I didn't hurry Felix would throw another fit.

I opened my door to see Felix bouncing up and down and looking like…well like a kid on Christmas morning. He started to help me onto his back but realized that that wasn't possible with what I was wearing so instead he cradled me in his arms and ran down the hall.

"Special occasion B?" He asked, referring to my outfit. "You finally gonna let James unwrap you?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"Felix! I thought you were my big brother, why would you say something like that? Do you really want your little sister to jump into bed with one of your best friends?"

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. "You're right, stay away from James today."

I giggled at his sudden change of heart. I loved teasing him. Felix sat me down gently when we reached the great room and stood protectively by my side as he sized up James. I could barely contain my laughter as James stared right back, no doubt trying to figure out what was wrong with Felix.

"Isabella, Merry Christmas darling." Aro kissed my cheek as he passed by me on his way to his throne which had been moved from the throne room for this occasion.

"Merry Christmas Papa."

It took us the better part of the day to open all the gifts under the giant Christmas tree but finally we were done.

"Figlia, I believe you have one more gift." Aro pulled a small box from his robe and held it out to me.

I skipped over to him, having long ago discarded the red stilettos Heidi had picked out for me, and plucked the box from his hand.

"Thank you Papa." I smiled at him as I opened the box.

There was a key inside. I looked at him questioningly, as far as I knew there wasn't anywhere in the castle that was locked so why would I need a key?

"James, would you take Isabella to see what her key goes to?" The question wasn't really a question and James knew that so I couldn't figure out why he was hesitating. Aro arched an eyebrow at him making James jump to attention.

"Yes master."

He approached me cautiously and held out his arms to me. "May I?"

Everyone in the room was looking at us like we'd lost our minds. I nodded and sighed in frustration. I couldn't seem to make him understand that I wasn't scared of him. James looked at me pleadingly.

"Felix, why don't you guys come too?" I asked, deciding to let James have his peace of mind for now but I wasn't going to let this go on much longer.

Felix was getting that excited look again even though the gift wasn't for him he wanted to see it, sometimes he reminded me of an excited two year old.

He jumped up and down and clapped his hands. "Let's go!"

James picked me up awkwardly and tried to hold me as far from his body as possible.

"James can you slow down for a minute please?"

"Uh…come on Bella, don't you want to see your gift?"

"No, I want to talk to you; so slow the fuck down."

"Fine." He grumbled, slowing down just enough for everyone else to be far enough ahead of us to not be able to hear us but we could still see them.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable after what happened."

"Well if you had bothered to ask me you would know that I am in no way uncomfortable being alone with you. Now stop acting like a jackass and making everyone suspicious or we're going to have to tell them what happened." I hissed, trying to keep my voice down since we were getting closer to the garage. "Wait a minute, where are we going?"

James chuckled and shook his head at me. "Sometimes I wonder how you made it for so long without all of us looking out for you. Did you really just now realize where we're going?

"You can't blame me for being unobservant when I was distracted because I had to yell at you for being an asshole for the past few months."

He hugged me to his chest for a moment. "Merry Christmas Bella."

"Hey I didn't give you your gift yet; I didn't want to give it to you in front of everyone so can you come to my room later?"

"I don't know Bella…"

"Oh my god James! If it's that big of a deal then I'll ask Heidi to come too."

"Thanks, just give me a little more time to make sure I have control of myself. Please?"

I rolled my eyes at him as he helped me down. "Holy crap this floor is cold!" I jumped back into his arms in my attempt to get my bare feet off the freezing floor.

His laugh made a warm feeling spread through my stomach. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd heard him really laugh and it made happy, a lot happier than it should have. I grinned up at him for a moment before he covered my eyes.

"Ready? I've been dying to see what he got for you but none of us have been allowed in the garage for a week now." He whispered in my ear.

My breath caught at the feeling of having his lips so close to my body and not in an 'I'm scared for my life' kind of way. I forced myself to nod and he uncovered my eyes.

"Wow, it's so pretty." I jumped down. "What is it?" I looked over my shoulder at James as I ran my hand down the side of the car.

He stood there gaping at me for a second. "You don't even know what kind of car this is?"

"No. Why; is it some kind of really rare super car?" I asked laughing.

"You could say that I guess. It's an Audi R8." He sighed and shook his head disbelievingly.

The guys and Victoria gushed over the car for half an hour before I managed to interrupt them.

"So who's going to teach me how to drive?" I clapped excitedly.

They all looked at each other for a moment.

"Oh crap, I forgot she doesn't even know how to drive." Demetri muttered.

I gave him my best hurt look.

"Sorry B but this really isn't the car you want to learn to drive in. Do you even know how much one of these costs?"

"No and I don't care. This is the car that Papa bought me and if it's what I'm going to be driving all of the time then don't you think I should learn to drive it?" I stamped my foot in irritation.

"Shit." James sighed under his breath and looked at my car in an almost apologetic way.

"Come on Bella, I'll take you to the private airfield and teach you." Victoria offered but she was giving the car the same look as James was.

I ignored the looks and squealed happily as I ran around the car and sank into the passenger seat. Victoria slid in next to me and held her hand out for the key.

"The guys are going to follow us. You know you aren't allowed to leave the castle without at least four guards."

She started the car and sighed happily as she lovingly caressed the steering wheel before pulling out of the garage at a speed that forced me back into the seat. I watched Victoria intently as she smoothly shifted through the gears.

"Why couldn't he have gotten me one that changed gears automatically?" I complained as I watched her shift again.

"Bella, they don't make these cars in an automatic." She explained slowly as if she were talking to a toddler.

"How was I supposed to know that?"

She just shook her head at me and continued driving. It didn't take long for us to get to the airstrip which was empty today. She stopped at the gate and explained to the guard what we wanted to do. Either he knew that she worked at the castle or he was so enthralled with her inhuman beauty that he didn't even ask her any questions before opening the gate for us. Victoria parked the car at the beginning of one of the runways.

"Okay Bella, this is the gear shifter…"

Twenty minutes later after Victoria had gone over every part of the car with me I was finally allowed to sit in the driver's seat and start the car.

"Just like we talked about B, slowly take your foot off the clutch while gently pressing on the gas."

I nodded and tried to do what she was telling me but the car just lurched forward and then died. Victoria cringed but smiled reassuringly at me. "Try again, this time wait until you feel the clutch catch before giving it gas."

I had to try three more times before I managed to keep the car running but then I panicked because I forgot what I was supposed to do next so I slammed on the brakes without using the clutch making the car die again. I could hear the moans and hisses coming from the guys who were leaning against the fence watching my every move and all but crying at the 'pain' I was inflicting on the car.

"Again Bella." Victoria sighed. "This time remember to clutch and shift gears."

It only took two tries this time before I managed to go forward and successfully shift into second gear. I was concentrating so hard on changing gears that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and almost drove into one of the bright orange barrels that lined the runway. Victoria grabbed the wheel and steered us back onto the pavement just in time.

"Thanks." I squeaked. She jerked her head toward the windshield reminding me that I was in control of a multi ton vehicle and needed to be watching where I was going instead of looking at her.

"Now shift into third." She ordered.

I did what she said and she gave me a strained smile and me a nodded in approval. "I think that's enough for today, I'll bring you back out tomorrow."

"Okay, uumm…how do I stop?"

She let out a deep breath and calmly said "Foot on the brake gently then when you hear the engine losing power downshift to second then do the same thing into first. Keep your foot on the clutch until you shift into neutral so you don't kill the engine."

I did everything exactly as she said then smiled happily at her. "Thanks so much Vicky! I don't think any of the guys would have been that patient with me."

"You're welcome B. For your first time you didn't do too bad."

She traded places with Demetri so he could drive back to the castle. He refused to look at me the whole way back. I never would have expected Demetri to be so into a car but he seemed to be really upset that I'd been so rough on it.

"I'm sorry D, forgive me?" I pleaded and gave him my sad eyes.

He stole a glance at me from the corner of his eye and sighed. "Fine, just try to be a little easier next time and watch where you're going! I thought you were going to give me and James heart attacks!"

"I promise."

I jumped out of the car and ran to find Heidi. It was getting late and since I'd been woken up at an ungodly hour to open gifts I was getting tired and wanted to go to bed. I found her organizing everyone's gifts into piles for them to carry to their rooms.

"Heidi, I need you to go get James and bring him to my room for me okay?"

"Sure B, we'll be right there and we'll bring your gifts up for you." She smiled knowingly at me.

"Thanks, and have you put all my clothes back yet? Because I really want to change."

She laughed "Yeah I did it while you were gone."

I had just enough time to change and pull my hair up before James and Heidi came stumbling in trying to balance all my gifts. I helped them put everything down and Heidi immediately busied herself with hanging up all my new clothes and reorganizing my closet.

I nervously picked up the small box with James's necklace in it and handed it to him.

"Merry Christmas James. I hope it doesn't take you to much longer to reassure yourself, I actually miss you for some reason." I smirked at him.

"I miss you too Bella." He whispered.

He sat down on the sofa and slowly opened the box. I bit my lip nervously and waited for his reaction.

"Say something." I pleaded after a few minutes of silence.

"I love it Bella." He smiled at me as he placed the chain around his neck. "I'll never take it off."

"Dragons are supposed to symbolize strength, power and protection and all three of those things remind me of you." I touched the dragon. "My protector." I whispered.

He stared at me for a moment before clearing his throat. Pulling away from me he placing two neatly wrapped gifts in my lap.

"Open the big one first."

I ripped the paper of the large, flat gift and had to stifle my laughter. I looked at him to make sure he was serious.

"Don't you think it'll be missed?"

He shook his head at me and grinned. "Even if it is you can tell them that I gave it to you so you won't be in trouble."

He had stolen my favorite painting in the castle. I had found it one day when I was wondering through the old part of the castle that was only used when the Brothers had huge gatherings and needed the extra bedrooms in that wing. The painting was of a tree with the full moon shining through its bare branches and there was a lonely looking little girl sitting under it with her head on her knees. For some reason I loved the painting but could see where others might find it depressing because of the forlorn feeling it gave you when you looked at it.

"Thank you James, I love it."

"Open the other one." He studied my face intently as I tore the paper off the smaller package. "I thought you might like to have those; you know, to help you remember."

"How did you…"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter, do you like it?"

He'd given me a leather bound album with pictures of me and my parents, starting with my baby pictures.

"Of course I love it! Thank you so much James, I can't tell you how much this means to me." I tried to contain my tears but I could already feel them running down my face as I flipped through the album.

"Oh Bella, I didn't mean to upset you. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." He wiped the tears from my cheeks.

"No, it's perfect. I was afraid that I was forgetting their faces. Don't worry, I've accepted that I'm never going to see them again but it's nice to have something to remember them by." I smiled at him.

"Aahhh, you guys are so sweet." Heidi cooed from the closet door.

James and I groaned at the same time making us all laugh.

"Okay Heidi, get it all over with now because we know that you're dying to say more than that and you deserve it after everything you've done to help us." I told her as I flopped back on the sofa and put a pillow over my face.

"I just don't understand why the two of you don't just-"

I didn't hear what the two of us should be doing because I feel asleep before she could say anything else. I woke up slightly when James moved me to the bed.

"Thank you." I murmured sleepily.

"Go back to sleep Tesoro."

I made a note in my head to ask someone what Tesoro means tomorrow before drifting back to sleep.

JPOV

I spun the metal pendant around in my fingers until the chain was tight against my neck and let it go, letting it spin and fall back against my chest. The little metal pendant was shiny as hell and the diamond sparkled each time I rolled it over in my fingers. It had been almost a week since Christmas and I still wasn't completely used to the necklace but I had already decided to never take it off.

When Bella had explained what the dragon meant I had been totally fucking surprised. Strength, power and protection; how could she still think of me that way after I'd almost ripped her throat out? The memory of her skin against my lips was still fresh in my mind even though it had been weeks, I doubt I'd ever forget it. I tried to shake off the craving for blood while I relived the memory.

After the incident in the game room I'd been so scared that they were going to take Bella away from me that I could hardly think straight, but it never happened. For some reason Bella didn't want anyone to find out and we'd both tried to just forget about it, it was our little secret. That was easier said than done though. I'd refused to be alone with her ever since and people were starting to get suspicious. Bella was being nicer to me than usual which wasn't helping either. She was probably trying to make me feel better about what had happened which was a big fucking joke. There was no way I'd ever be able to think of it as just a little slip, Bella had no clue just how close she'd come to death.

All I wanted was for things to go back to normal. I'd never admit it but I missed the stubborn, bratty Bella. Some of it had come back out on Christmas when she'd ordered me to stop being such a pussy and talk to her. When she told me she missed me I wanted to hug the crap out of her. That was my girl, not even scared of the one vampire in the castle who had wanted to kill her, twice. I cringed when I thought about the first time I saw her in the feeding room, I had wanted her so badly. If Aro hadn't gotten to her first I would have taken her without a second thought. Even then something about her had brought out the animal in me.

My feelings for Bella were so confusing; it made my head hurt just trying to think about it. I didn't think of her as a sister like Demetri and Felix, or as a daughter like Aro; to me she was more than family. Her life had somehow come to mean more to me than even my own; which was really fucking confusing seeing as how the primal side of me wanted nothing more than to end it.

I spun the dragon pendant around in my fingers one more time before getting off the bed and pulling on a shirt. It was New Years Eve and there was a huge party planned; surprise, surprise.

Ok, so maybe celebrating the holidays this year had been sort of fun but it had also been stressful. What the fuck do you get a girl who has everything? I mean shit; Aro had bought her a $130 thousand dollar car for Christ's sakes. How do you compete with something like that?

I had thought about what to get Bella for weeks and finally settled on stealing that weird ass painting she was obsessed with, then decided it wasn't enough. After thinking about it so much that I was pretty sure my brain was going to turn into Bella mush I'd come up with a plan. Aro agreed to let me send a guard to steal pictures from Bella's parents after some persuading. It was the only thing I could think of that she would really want.

Once I'd gotten the photo album put together I'd changed my mind about giving it to her at least a thousand times. I didn't want to upset her and handing her pictures of the people she loved but could never see again seemed like a sure fire way of breaking the girls heart. She seemed genuinely happy when I gave it to her though. Hopefully I had done something right for once.

I thought about the sad smile she'd gotten while looking at the pictures as I made my way down to the party. Hopefully tonight's party would keep Bella in a happy mood, Heidi and Sasha had gone all out. When I reached the great hall the music was already blaring and it seemed like every vampire in the castle was there. Unlike Christmas this party wasn't limited to just the head guards and Bella's friends. I scanned the room for the girls; they were all supposed to show up together after getting ready. I found Victoria and Laurent standing in the corner, and Felix running through the crowd butt naked, but no one else. When Felix came close he slowed down to talk to me.

"Don't you ever wear clothes you sick fuck?"

Felix had gotten uncomfortably close and I was trying to back away. It was against man law to be within ten feet of another naked man. Felix never paid attention to rules though.

"Why should I when I look this good?"

Felix laughed while sneaking up behind Cassandra and doing some horrible fucking vibrating dance. Even though I was trying my best to not watch I couldn't help but laugh when Cassandra smacked him. I had to take off before she saw me though; I didn't want to waste any time trying to ditch the bitch.

"Jameseeeee!"

Fuck. Too late.

"What Cassandra?" This chic seriously could not take a hint. What would it take for me to get her to leave me the fuck alone?

"I'm so glad I finally found you! You've been hiding from me you naughty boy."

She leaned in close and wrapped her arms around my neck, nuzzling her upturned nose into my neck. I wanted to get away from her and her nasty perfume; I had a human to find.

"Yeah whatever." I said while trying to detach myself from her grip. She was like a fucking black widow once she got you in her grips, the bitch didn't let go.

"Where are you going? Don't you want to be my kissing partner tonight?"

It took some side stepping and dodging but I finally got away, leaving her standing alone next to the dance floor and shooting daggers at my back. Good thing I was immortal cause the look she was giving would make a lesser man drop dead.

My search resumed and I found Heidi and Sasha messing with some decorations by the windows but still no Bella. I frowned in frustration while waiting for Sasha to pay attention to me.

"Hey, where's Bella?"

Sasha gave the streamer she was hanging one last frustrated swipe before raising an eyebrow in my direction.

"She's coming with the torture twins. Aren't you supposed to know that sort of thing?"

"She told me she was coming with you guys."

Sasha shrugged and went back to the stupid fucking streamers. A little concern would be nice.

I held back a growl and spun away from her. How many times do I have to tell Bella not to change plans without telling me? She was getting way too comfortable in the castle and had apparently forgotten that she was living with a bunch of blood thirsty vampires.

The room was almost full and the clock said 11:30, everyone was gathering for mid-night. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, if Bella was in the room I'd smell her; all I got was the scent of vampires though. I moved across the dance floor and past the tiny refreshment table that hadn't been touched, that meant Bella for sure hadn't been there yet. There was no way in hell she could pass up the chocolate covered cherries, they were her favorite.

Finally I spotted the two tiny vampires she was supposed to be with. They were standing off in the corner like the creepy little outcasts they normally were. Bella was seriously the only person in the castle who liked them, probably because she was the only who they couldn't hurt.

"Alec, hey, where's Bella?"

He gave me the same look that Sasha had, the one that said I was an incompetent fuck.

"I don't know."

I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath before I said something really fucking rude to the little shit.

"Wasn't she coming with you?"

"No. I haven't talked to her."

My anger was fading fast and turning into something much more horrifying. Demetri appeared next to me out of thin air. I leaned in close to ask him if he'd seen Bella, he was my last hope.

"No, sorry. What's going on?"

"I can't find her. I want you to get every one of the head guards and tell them to search for her."

Demetri nodded and started to take off; I grabbed his arm and pulled him back to me quickly.

"Be discrete. I don't want everyone to know she is missing, it will just cause chaos. I'm going to go check her room then the garden."

I left the room in such a hurry that I almost ran into Cassandra who was trying to block my exit with her overly exposed cleavage. Luckily I was too fast for her and was able to sneak past her before she could sink her claws in.

The castle was eerily quiet as I ran. Usually you could hear someone talking, or people walking through the stone hallways, but with everyone in the great room for the party everything else had gone silent.

If my heart could beat it would have been pounding out of my chest. I just couldn't get my shit together when it came to Bella and now I had lost her. How the fuck does someone lose a human girl in a castle full of vampires? It's not like she could just hop a wall or something either. In all my effort to keep my distance I'd completely lost track of her.

When I reached her room I didn't even stop. I could tell just from listening that she wasn't there. I began to second guess my plan, thinking I should have checked the garage first. We had all taken turns showing Bella how to drive her car and she knew enough now to take off on her own. Where would she go though? The guards at the gate would stop her anyway. The garden was definitely a better place to look.

The glass doors ahead of me were reflecting the dark rows of flowers when I reached them but no Bella. I ran out into the bright moonlight in a full blown panic. Nothing but plants and dirt, until the wind changed. I caught the faintest scent of Bella and followed it. Towards the back of the garden was an old hedge maze that no one ever used anymore and in the center was a crumbling stone table; that was where I found her. Bella had her back to me and was perched on the only bench that wasn't too broken to sit on.

" Bella?"

Her head was bowed and her shoulders shook slightly, at first I thought she was cold until I heard the soft sobs. I walked around to face her and saw the streaks of tears that were staining her cheeks. My heart felt like it had fallen into my stomach.

"What's wrong?"

If someone had hurt her I would kill them, screw the promise I'd made to her. The photo album open in her lap was like a slap in the face though. I was the one who had hurt her.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, what had I been thinking? The pictures had just made her sad again. I scooped her up and sat down with her in my arms. She pressed her wet face into my neck and took in a few shaky breaths.

"It's ok Bella."

I ran my hand through her soft hair and kept repeating the words to her, the same way she had when it had been me who was in trouble. Her sobs quieted into gentle hiccups and when she was finally done crying she looked up at me with a weak smile.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

She lifted the little book and hugged it tightly to her chest.

"I miss them so much."

There was a hitch in her words and she struggled to hold in the fresh batch of sobs starting in her chest.

"I know you do. It's ok though; there are people here who love you."

Bella worked to steady her breathing again and moved out of my lap to sit next to me.

"I just wish I could have said good bye. I know my mom probably blames herself for being the one to bring me here and it was my fault. If I hadn't snuck out this never would have happened."

I pinched her chin between my thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look me in the eyes.

"Then we never would have met, and then I'd have to be really fucking sad."

She smiled again and laughed a little. "You, sad? Never."

"Sure, I get sad. I do have feelings."

"Like love for my car." Bella smirked at me and pulled her hair back behind her ear.

"Or love for you."

The words slipped out before I could stop them. I wanted to say "Or feeling like an idiot for sticking my fucking foot in my mouth right now." I did love Bella, but it was in such a complicated way that it would be impossible to explain.

"We better get back to the party before everyone starts to notice that you aren't there. Most of the guard is out looking for you already anyway."

Bella was still looking at me with her eyes all wide and unbelieving. I reached up to fidget with the necklace hiding under my shirt, a habit in the making.

"It's almost mid-night too." I was still trying to change the subject and Bella seemed to finally get over my comment.

"I don't have anyone to kiss at mid-night so I'm not really in a rush to get back to the party for that."

She made a face and shrugged like it didn't fucking matter. I knew her better than that though. Bella was all about the human moments. She needed a mid-night kiss. I was about to take her hand and run back to the castle to find some willing fucker to kiss Bella without trying to get in her pants when a light exploded in the sky, we were too late.

"Oh!" Bella lifted her eyes to the dark sky in surprise, she hadn't known about the fireworks. I watched as her changed colors with each new pyrotechnic explosion and made her eyes sparkle like Christmas lights. A faint smile tugged at her lips and her eye lashes were still wet with tears. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful Bella really was, and knowing she deserved to experience the little things.

I swallowed and took a deep breath, reassuring myself that I could control myself. I would do this for Bella and not let my own selfish desires take over. No matter how good she tasted, I would hold back.

"Bella."

She turned to look at me innocently and I prayed that I wouldn't scare her with my sudden movement. I put a hand on the back of her head and leaned in, gently pressing my lips against hers.

Bella gasped and attempted to pull away at first until she realized what I was doing. After a second that felt like an eternity while I waited to see if she was going to scream and punch me, she pressed back. Her warm lips were soft against my cold hard mouth, and she tasted even more amazing than I remembered.

When she opened her mouth slightly I pulled away. That was too much. I didn't want her to get the wrong idea, or maybe I didn't want to give myself any ideas. It was just a kiss for New Years, nothing else. That was what I was telling myself over and over in my head anyway.

"Happy New Year Bella."

We were still close enough for my lips to brush against hers when I whispered. I heard the footsteps behind us before Bella did. Our friends had found us. I sat up and leaned back onto my elbows against the old table and acted like I was watching the fireworks.

Just before the first vampire came around the corner to see us Bella looked up at me and whispered back with a curious smile.

"Happy New Year James."

**A/N from sleepy- Holy crap! He kissed her… under the fire works! I always knew James could be a sweety. Ugh, too bad even though he's a vampire he's also a man, and we all know men do stupid things. **sigh** hopefully it won't be long until he stops being an idiot and just admits how much he loves Bella. Right Panda Manda?? Hehe… just so everyone knows, Quickbunny has the real Easter bunny living in her house, eating her chords lol. Please leave reviews and maybe she'll send it out with some eggs full of candy for you.**

**quickbunny: That's right; did you all know that the Easter bunny likes to eat power cords? Well she does. I knew that James had it in him. You guys just hang on for a few more chapters and we promise that Bella and James will be together soon! So like Laura said leave us a review and the Easter bunny will send you your favorite candy!!!**


	10. Chapter 10

**quickbunny: We wanted to give you guys an Easter treat so here's Bella's POV and if you're really good and review for us then Monday you'll get James's version of this chapter!! ~Manda~**

**Chapter 9 BPOV**

After James's sweet moment on New Year's things has gone back to normal between us, well as normal as they had ever been. He teased me and did all the annoying little things that he knew pissed me off and I took every opportunity I could to be the bitchy, whiny teenager that he thought I was. We still had our moments though. Like the one right now.

I had just gotten out of the shower and was wearing nothing but the towel wrapped around my body, bent at the waist towel drying my hair with my back to the door. It was one of the rare mornings that I woke up before James brought my breakfast to me and I hadn't realized that it was time for him. I was lost in the memory of New Year's Eve again. The way James's lips had felt pressed against mine. Hard but soft, cold but I swore my lips would be blistered from the heat of the kiss. He'd pressed so gently against my lips and when I inhaled his minty breath I instantly wanted more. So I made the stupid mistake of opening my mouth, causing him pull away from me. Even though he only pulled back a fraction of an inch I still felt the loss.

I heard the door crash open; James never bothered to knock in the mornings, and froze; praying that he'd sent one of the girls with my food this morning.

"I…I…." He stuttered.

I calmly straighten up and turned to look at him, tossing my hair over my shoulder and pretending that I hadn't just been fantasizing about him. I had planned on saying something snarky about him not knocking but when I looked at him I couldn't speak either. His eyes left burning trails all over my body as he took me in before meeting my eyes. My breathing escalated until I was afraid that the towel would come un-tucked from the heaving of my chest.

"Bella…"

He whispered my name; successfully breaking me from my trance. I turned my back and walked to the closet to get dressed, feeling his eyes on me until I shut the door behind me. I pulled my clothes on slowly using the time to calm myself down. By the time I was done I felt normal again.

Stepping back into the room I sneered at him. "We really should try that knocking thing."

He rubbed the back of his head and looked sheepishly at the floor.

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd be up yet. Besides you knew that I'd be coming in, I think you did it on purpose." The shit eating grin that he thought was so sexy was firmly in place when he looked back up at me.

"Of course. I planned it all out so that you could make yourself look like a jackass by staring at my barely concealed body."

"Oh please; like I haven't seen you in a bikini. And why would I want to look at a scrawny little girl anyways?"

I huffed as I sat down to eat. Normally he would leave after he dropped off my tray and send someone else to pick it up but this morning he didn't seem to have anything else to do. He tugged gently on a piece of my hair before sprawling out next me and grabbing the remote for the TV.

"Don't you have someone else you need to be annoying right now?"

"Nope, I cleared my schedule so I would have all morning to annoy you." He shot back at me without bothering to look away from the asinine truck show he'd found to watch.

"Lovely."

"Actually I wanted to warn you. You do realize what tomorrow is don't you?"

I thought for a moment, racking my brain to try and remember if it was someone's birthday or if Aro had told me we were having visitors before shaking my head at him.

"April 1st." He informed me with a grimace.

"Noooo! Can't we sneak away and come back on the 2nd?" I pleaded.

"Sorry." He shook his head at me and smirked. "I just wanted to be nice and remind you to be careful, you know how Felix is."

"Thanks, I guess."

I finished my breakfast and went to go find Felix, leaving James sitting on my couch. I planned to plead with Felix to leave me out of all the pranks that I knew he had planned for tomorrow. I noticed that everybody I passed in the hallways gave me weird looks and a few even stopped to whisper to each other behind my back. I paused in front of a mirror to make sure that James hadn't done something juvenile like stick a sign on my back but I couldn't see anything wrong with my appearance.

I looked everywhere for Felix but couldn't find him. After checking all his usual places I stopped by the library already knowing that he wouldn't be in there but I had to go past it anyway to get back to my room. I was right, he wasn't there but **she** was.

"Hello little Bella. Wondering the castle all by yourself today? Where are your babysitters?" She sneered.

"Hello Cassandra, I was just looking for Felix actually. You haven't seen him have you?" I forced my voice to sound friendly even though I wanted to scream at her.

"No sorry. Maybe after hearing what you made poor James do to Chase he decided it was best to stay away from you."

I couldn't stop my laughter as she grinned triumphantly at me. "And what exactly did I _make_ James do to Chase?"

Her grin morphed into an evil sneer. "Why you had **my** darling James kill Chase because you decided that Chase wasn't worth your time anymore. You know James is such a sweet person; he would never do something like that if the Brothers hadn't ordered him to make sure that the little human gets everything she wants. One day very soon the Masters will realize that they are wasting their time with you; I just hope that I'm there when they get rid of you."

"So you've been spreading rumors about what I _made_ James do to Chase." I stated. "What have you been telling everyone?"

"We all noticed the way James hovered around you for weeks after Chase disappeared then all of a sudden he couldn't get far enough away from you. Obviously you used James the same way that you used Chase. I merely helped everyone put two and two together." She smiled sweetly at me.

I felt sick at my stomach. Everyone in the castle thought that I was using men then tossing them aside or having them killed. I wished, not for the first time, that I was strong enough to inflict bodily harm on the infantile vampire standing in front of me. Instead I forced an impassive look on my face.

"Well, at least you've found something productive to do in your free time since James is _forced_ to spend all of his with me." I smirked at the outraged expression on her face before leaving her standing in the middle of the library looking like steam was getting ready to pour out of her ears.

James was just leaving my room when I got back. He took one look at my face before sighing and following me back inside.

"What's wrong now?"

"Nothing important." I mumbled.

Cassandra's childish behavior didn't really bother me, I was used to it by now, what hurt my feelings was that after almost two years here people still took her word over their own observations about me. Anyone who had spent any time with me knew that I would never do the things she was telling them I'd done.

James wouldn't give up that easily though; he pestered me until I finally told him about my conversation with Cassandra. The look of pure fury on his face scared me more than the episode in the game room after he'd finally told me about Chase. I huddled in the corner of the couch until he stormed out of the room.

After about half an hour my friends started trickling in one by one to reassure me that I shouldn't listen to Cassandra and that James had already set everyone else straight on the matter. They wouldn't tell me what he was going to do to Cassandra and I decided to just let it drop.

I felt better after talking to my friends so I began my campaign to get Felix to let me off the hook tomorrow. I was pathetically unsuccessful in my pleading and Felix just sat smirking at me and rubbing his hands together.

I went to bed that night dreading the day to come.

------------------------------------------------

"Bella, wake up." James's panicked voice filtered slowly into my sleep fogged mind.

I opened my eyes to see his horror stricken face staring down at me.

"James, what's wrong?" I sat up quickly and ran my hands through my hair which made me scream.

My pillow was covered with hair and I knew instantly that Felix was playing a prank but he'd screwed it up horribly. It was an old prank and if I hadn't already ran my hands through my hair then I probably would have laughed.

Instead of putting fake hair all over my pillow Felix had actually cut my hair. James backed slowly away from me with his hands raised; trying his best not to laugh.

"Don't kill me. I didn't have anything to do with it, I just came to bring you your breakfast and found you like this. Christ Bella how could you sleep through him cutting your hair off?"

"Get. Out. Now. And tell Felix he's dead when I find him." I growled.

"I'll…I'll send…Heidi in to help you fix this." He chuckled and gestured to my hair.

"OUT!!" I shouted and pushed him toward the door.

A few minutes later Heidi rushed in looking horrified.

"Please tell me that James was trying to prank me. Felix didn't really cut your hair off did he?"

I pulled the towel off my head and showed her my now shoulder length hair. Felix hadn't attempted to keep it even or anything so I still had a few chucks that were half way down my back while the front was chin length.

Heidi was completely speechless for more than a minute before she started screaming.

"What the hell was he thinking?! I promise Bella, I'll help you get him back for this if it's the last thing I do. Come on, I'll make you an appointment with a hairdresser."

She shoved a hat on my head and led me from the room. We did fine until we nearly walked into a wall halfway down a hallway.

"What the fuck?" Heidi looked thoroughly confused.

Since I hadn't really paid any attention to where we were going it took me a minute to realize where we were.

"Please tell me that the Brothers aren't remodeling again and forgot to tell us." She moaned and leaned against the wall which shifted slightly.

"Felix." She spat and pushed the fake wall out of the way. "He's really pushing his luck with me today. I wonder what else he has planned."

Heidi held the door to the salon open for me and as soon as I stepped into the building I was surrounded by people. I was immediately pushed into a chair so a girl could wash my hair while another girl slipped my shoes off and placed my feet in a mineral bath to soak. Heidi was chatting away in Italian with the woman who was going to cut my hair as they flipped through books of different hairstyles.

"Bella do you have any idea of how you want it cut?" Heidi asked absently.

"Not really. Anything will be better than what I have now."

She nodded in agreement and pointed out a picture to me. It was kind of choppy, short in the back then got longer in the front so that it would come just past my chin with bangs that would come just below my nose.

"How about this one then?"

"I like it." I smiled. "Besides it's not like it won't grow out if I end up hating it." I shrugged.

I picked out a pale pink nail polish and got a manicure and pedicure while Marie was cutting my hair. When she was finished she spun me around to look in the mirror. I smiled at my reflection. I never thought I would look good with short hair; it had never been shorter than my shoulders before. By the time we left I'd almost forgotten that I was there because of Felix's stupid prank.

Two hours later I was finally back in my room. Felix had tried repeatedly to apologize but I ignored him. I didn't want to talk to him just yet. I was sitting on my couch racking my brain to come up with a way to get him back when Cassandra walked in.

"What do you want now?" I sighed. I really didn't have the strength to deal with her again today.

"Bella, I just want to apologize. I was just jealous that James was spending all his time with you and I wanted to get you back somehow. I'm really sorry." She actually managed to look genuinely embarrassed for what she had done. "Hey, I like your new hair!"

"Thanks. You can complement Felix on it when you see him next time." I grumbled.

She arched her eyebrows at me in question.

"He thought it would be a good prank to cut off all my hair."

"Oh, and you haven't killed him yet?"

"I'm trying to think of a way to get him back but there's not much I can do to a vampire." I didn't know why I was talking to her but I was already having such a bad day that I didn't think it could get much worst.

"I have an idea and I would be happy to help you with it. Maybe it'll help make up for how awful I've been to you."

I eyed her wearily. "What's your idea?"

"Well, animal blood doesn't affect us the way human blood does. We still smell it and want it but…" She thought for a minute. "I guess it would be like tofu to a human. You can survive on it but it's not really appealing. I could find some cow's blood and we can cover you in it then when Felix walks in he'll be too worried about you to notice that the blood isn't human." She smiled and looked pleased with her plan.

"No way! I'm not drenching myself in blood. Not gonna happen." I shook my head and pointed toward the door, indicating for her to leave.

"Come on Bella; it's perfect. Felix will be so scared that you're seriously hurt that he'll never prank you again. I promise that you won't be in danger. It's just a little blood; I thought you were tougher than that since you've been living with a bunch of vampires for the past two years. Surely blood doesn't bother you anymore."

"I don't think it's a good idea Cassandra." I sighed exasperatedly.

"Please let me do this Bella. I want to make up for all the petty things I've done to you since you've been here. Please!" She begged and looked like she would be crying if she could.

I eyed her skeptically as she hung her head and sighed.

"Fine, I'll just go then. Sorry I couldn't help you get back at Felix."

"Wait Cassandra." I knew that I was going to regret what I was about to do. "How long will it take you to get the blood?"

Her face lit up and she squealed excitedly. "Just give me an hour. There's a butcher shop a few streets over."

-------------------------------

"And you're positive that this isn't human blood." I asked Cassandra for the tenth time as she poured the container of blood over my body.

"Bella, I would never do something so dangerous! Look at me; I'm not trying to eat you right now am I? Felix will be so panicked that he won't notice that it's not your blood. Now stop worrying so much and lay down before someone hears you." Even though her words were reassuring the hungry look in her eyes told me otherwise but she didn't seem to have a problem controlling herself so I tried not to worry about it too much.

I lay back down in the middle of my bedroom floor as Cassandra skipped from the room. Now all have to do is wait for Felix to come and apologize again I thought happily. I just hoped that it worked. I was still having doubts about trusting Cassandra but it was too late to change my mind now; I could hear Felix and James coming down the hall arguing. I lay perfectly still and tried to look unconscious. We couldn't make him think that I was dead because there was no way to conceal my heartbeat.

Felix knocked on the door and I could hear James continue down the hall.

"Bella, can I come in please?" He waited for a minute before opening the door.

As soon as the door opened I knew that I'd made a mistake. I had my eyes barely opened so I could watch his reaction when he first saw me. Instead of the panic and fear that I'd expected to see on his face Felix's eyes dilated and he dropped into a crouch. I pulled myself off the floor and into the corner trying to make myself as small as possible.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" James roared from the hallway. He instantly analyzed the situation and yelled for help while he wrapped his arms around Felix and tried to pull him into the hall. Felix snapped and bit at the arm James had across his chest. James was trying to talk to him but Felix was gone and nothing was going to penetrate the bloodlust. Demetri skidded to a halt behind James and bent down to pin Felix's legs. Even with two vampires holding him down Felix was doing a good job of trying to get away, his legs and arms kept getting lose and he nearly ripped Demetri's arm off when he managed to free his left hand for a split second.

"Damn it Bella, go get in the fucking shower and wash that shit off NOW!" James screamed at me. I watched for a moment as he and Demetri struggled with their own bloodlust. Neither of them seemed to be as affected by it as Felix was but their eyes were pitch black, their heads were straining toward me and neither of them were breathing.

I sprinted into the bathroom and jumped into the shower. When I was done I hesitantly stuck my head back into my bedroom to see James waiting for me with a furious look on his face. Someone had cleaned up all the blood off the floor and the entire room smelled like bleach.

"Get in here now." He growled.

I slowly stepped into the room and pressed my back against the wall.

"Do you want to tell me why you're suddenly suicidal?"

I took a deep breath and explained Cassandra's plan.

"You trusted _Cassandra_? Why would you do that? And for your information that wasn't cow's blood, it was human."

My stomach lurched at the thought that I was covered with some poor human's blood not fifteen minutes earlier.

"I don't know why I trusted her. I was trying to think of a way to get back at Felix and she said that cow's blood didn't affect you guys the way human blood does. I'm sorry James, I know it was stupid."

"You're damn right it was stupid! I'll take care of Cassandra; you're not to leave this room for the rest of the day. Do you understand me? I'll bring your food to you later and we'll talk about this more. I'm sure that Aro will have something to say to you as well."

He didn't wait for me to reply before he stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Just as he promised he brought me lunch and dinner but he refused to speak to me as he watched me eat. I kept trying to figure out the emotion in his eyes when he looked at me but I couldn't. Aro came and spent at least half an hour lecturing me and telling me how disappointed he was with me before kissing my forehead and telling me that he was so glad that I was alright. James stood in the doorway the whole time that Aro was talking to me but I couldn't make myself look at him; I was afraid of the disappointment I would see in his eyes. Finally right before I went to bed James came back to talk to me.

"First of all, you're not to have any contact of any kind with Cassandra, understand?"

I nodded in agreement. For some reason I was more worried about what James would say than I was about what Aro had said earlier.

"That was the stupidest thing you've ever done Isabella."

I cringed at the use of my full name. He only ever called me Isabella when he was mad at me.

"Felix nearly killed you. If I hadn't smelled the blood and came to see what was wrong he **would** have killed you. He feels terrible about it and you should apologize as soon as you see him again."

I nodded again and tried not to cry. I hadn't even cried when Aro was yelling at me earlier. I was trying to figure out why James affected me so much more strongly than my adopted father did. I waited for him to yell some more but instead he rushed across the room and engulfed me in a hug.

"Please don't ever scare me like that again." He mumbled against my hair as he rocked me back and forth while I sobbed into his chest.

"I won't." Was the only thing I managed to choke out.

James helped me into bed then crawled in beside me. He stroked my hair and whispered soothingly until my tears ran out and I fell asleep.

**quickbunny: So remember to review because I know that Laura has an awesome chapter from James waiting for us!! James's version of this chapter is a lot longer than Bella's so just hang on until Monday to find out what kind of evilness he has planned for Cassandra! ~Manda~**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 9 JPOV

As I carried Bella's breakfast down the hall I slipped into the memory of our kiss again. It had been doing it more and more lately. After that night I'd tried my best to keep my distance and things had gone back to normal for the most part, but my brain wouldn't fucking cooperate. At random times the memory of her lips pressed against mine would suddenly pop up in my head and distract me from whatever the hell I was doing; it was starting to fucking drive me nuts.

When I reached Bella's room I tossed open the door to her room like I did every day. I liked giving her a mini heart attack in the morning, it kept her on her toes and I liked the way her heart sounded when it pounded all super fast. Except that morning she wasn't in bed. I searched the room and what I found nearly made me drop the tray of food.

Bella was in the bathroom with the door wide open, bent over doing something to her hair and all she had on was a tiny little towel. If she were bent over just a fraction of an inch more I'd be seeing a whole new side of Bella, one I'd only seen in my twisted fantasies. Wait, no; I do NOT think about Bella that way. At least I try not to... I was having a really hard time remembering English at that moment though and all I could stammer out was "I… I…"

_Shit. _She stood up to face me and I swear her skin was fucking glowing. Bella was breathing so hard her chest was straining against the towel that was already threatening to give up and fall to the ground. My mind had conjured images of Bella in a bikini and was doing a really good job of imagining what she looked like without it. She was just too close to being naked for my stupid head to think about anything else. I was finally able to remember one word.

"Bella…"

That word snapped both of us out of whatever trance we were in. She calmly walked to the closet and shut the door.

I took a deep breath and tried to clear the scent of her freshly bathed skin out of my head; so much for acting normal. What the hell had she been thinking anyway? She knew I brought her breakfast every morning; maybe she'd wanted me to catch her. The idea was making more and more sense. Bella liked to frustrate me; that had to be it. She wanted me to lose my fucking mind!

Bella walked out of the closet fully dressed and giving me a snaky little smile. "We really should try that knocking thing."

Bella's sarcastic comment made me grin. So this was how it was going to be huh? Well then, let the games begin.

"Sorry. I didn't think you'd be up yet. Besides, you knew I'd be coming in, I think you did it on purpose."

I looked up and wiggled my eyebrows at her suggestively. I knew exactly what she was doing. At least I thought I did.

"Of course. I planned it all out so that you could make yourself look like a jackass by staring at my barely concealed body."

Hhmm… maybe she hadn't done it on purpose. _Shit. _

"Oh please; like I haven't already seen you in a bikini. And why would I want to look at a scrawny little girl anyway?"

Bella gave me an annoyed look and huffed angrily while plopping down on the couch. Perhaps the dig about her being scrawny was too much. I tugged on her hair to try and show her I was just messing around, Bella definitely wasn't scrawny anymore. Actually she was starting to show some curves that were way too sexy for a little girl to have. It drove me fucking crazy. It seems like everything drove me crazy lately.

"Don't you have someone else you need to be annoying right now?"

There was a defensive note in Bella's voice and I could tell I'd gotten to her. I settled on a truck show on TV before answering her, I wasn't going anywhere.

"Nope, I cleared my schedule so I would have all morning to annoy you."

Not entirely true, I hadn't had to clear my schedule at all. Bella was the only thing I had to worry about anymore. After the incident on New Year's I'd insisted on being released from all other duties to keep a closer eye on Bella. Marcus had made some crack about me being incapable of watching after a simple human, but he was still bitter about Chase. Fuck him anyway.

"Lovely."

I watched Bella thoughtfully chew a piece of cantaloupe before remembering exactly why I had stayed in the first place. Damn, Felix.

"Actually I wanted to warn you. You do know what tomorrow is don't you?"

Bella gave me a blank look that clearly said she didn't. I sighed and made a face.

"April 1st."

Bella's eye brows shot up into her hair and all of that wonderful color faded from her face.

"Noooo! Can't we sneak away and come back on the 2nd?" She begged. It wasn't that bad of an idea but I knew it wasn't possible. It took too much planning for me to get my sparkly ass out of the castle, especially with a human in tow. We would just have to make it through somehow. I shook my head at her.

"Sorry. I just wanted to be nice and remind you to be careful, you know how Felix is."

"Thanks, I guess."

Bella sighed and went back to her breakfast. I knew exactly how she felt. Felix could come up with some pretty good pranks; he just couldn't pull them off all that well. Last year he'd accidentally super glued a suit of armor to himself. I don't even know what the hell he was trying to do. It took Demetri and Laurent forever to get that thing off of him. Normally he would have just ripped that shit off but that particular suit happened to be one of The Brother's priceless heirlooms. Fucking idiot.

After Bella had finished her food she ditched me to go hunt down Felix and beg for mercy. I wanted to tell her it was no use, but Bella was the type of girl that had to figure that shit out for herself. Give it another few years and she'd learn to just lay low. Fine with me, I was able to finish my show in peace without her whining at me to change the channel every thirty seconds. I was just about to take off when she got back to the room, obviously upset. Felix must have ignored her pleas.

"What's wrong now?"

"Nothing important."

I growled in frustration while following her back into the room. There was no way I was going to deal with Bella in that attitude all day. It took me a whole five minutes to finally get her to tell me what the fuck was wrong, and it had nothing to do with our favorite giant vampire.

It seemed that Cassandra was spreading some fucked up rumors about Bella using me to kill Chase. Once she had gotten all the words out I couldn't help the rage that had grown inside me. I'd been trying really fucking hard to keep my anger in check since New Years but this was fucking ridiculous. What happened with Chase hadn't been Bella's fault, I had spent weeks trying to convince her of that and now she was all bummed about it again. I stormed out of her room while she cowered on the couch.

Shit; another broken promise to myself. I had sworn not to scare Bella anymore. That just pissed me off even more.

It didn't take long for me to track down Cassandra, she was sitting on a lounge chair by the indoor swimming pool; wearing the saddest excuse for a bathing suit I'd ever seen. I swear to God I've seen napkins with more material on them. When I walked up to her she rolled off her stomach onto her back and smiled up at me like she hadn't done a single thing wrong.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

"Who? Me? I don't have any problems with you James baby."

Cassandra got up off the chair, making sure to bend at the waist as she picked up her towel before facing me. Her movements reminded me of catching Bella in the bathroom earlier that morning and the contrasts between the two women were staggering. Where Bella was sexy without even trying Cassandra was slut overkill.

"Why are you telling people that Bella made me kill Chase?"

Cassandra cocked an eye brow at me and laughed. At that point everyone in the room was watching us. Great, I love audiences.

"That's what I heard. And don't tell me it's not true. We all saw how that little whore strung poor Chase along until she was done with him. Now she's got her claws in you and ordered you to clean up her mess."

She made little "tsk, tsk" noises with her tongue and leaned into my chest.

"I could fix your little problem if you wanted me to though. It wouldn't take much. That weak little human could have a nasty accident at any moment you know. Maybe a faulty break line in that fancy new car of hers."

I don't usually hit girls, even vampire girls, but this was no woman. Before I could stop myself I reached up and smacked that bitch. It made a satisfying sound and her head snapped back. And wouldn't you know it, that crazy bitch looked up and me and smiled.

"See, you can be rough with me and not have to worry about breaking anything. Just say the words and she'll be gone."

Our faces were only an inch apart as I snarled down to her.

"If you come within fifty feet of Bella I will remove your limbs and toss your useless piece of shit body into the deepest dungeon in the castle. Do you understand me?"

Her face twisted into a nasty sneer and I walked away before I just went ahead and started ripping her to pieces. I would make sure there was no way Cassandra could bother Bella anymore. She might be able to spread some stupid ass rumors, but she wouldn't get near my Bella.

I ran passed Demetri and Heidi on my way to the throne room but didn't stop to talk. They both had looks on their faces like they'd already heard the stories about Bella and me. That just pissed me off more, gossip spread way too fast in the castle.

There were light whispers in the room when I reached the door but it didn't sound like anything important so I knocked firmly and waited. Felix opened the door and smiled evilly at me. Shit, I still needed to hide my stuff before he got to it.

"James, how can we help you? Something concerning Bella I presume?"

Marcus gave me a flat stare while Aro stood to greet me. It was just the two of them so ignored the comment and nodded. No point in starting shit with Marcus. He wouldn't be happy to hear what I had to say anyway.

"I'd like an official order to keep Cassandra away from Bella."

Felix was watching intently from his spot behind Aro's chair and Marcus hissed quietly. This wasn't good, I could already tell. Aro sighed and sat back down.

"We can't go around ordering every vampire who upsets Bella to hide away from her. Bella will just have to learn to be strong in the face of adversity."

I clenched my teeth and saw Felix shake his head; he knew my temper too well.

"My concern is for Bella's physical safety. Cassandra has made numerous threats and I can no longer consider them idle."

There was a soft knock on the door as Sulpicia entered, obviously waiting for her husband. Aro gave me a rare harsh stare that meant the conversation was over.

"It's your responsibility to keep her safe. So do your job and there will be no problems."

They left the room with the Sulpicia and their guards, including Felix who gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. I resisted the urge to throw a chair into the fire place after they were gone and settled on taking my anger out on dinner. It was almost time to feed anyway.

***

The rumors had spread like wildfire overnight and everywhere I went in the castle someone gave me a dirty look. There is an unspoken rule that vampires always stick together and never chose humans over another immortal, and no matter what my reason had been for killing Chase everyone was fucking pissed. There was no point in trying to explain that Bella wasn't a normal human, she was practically one of us! No one would listen anyway.

That shit didn't bother me, they could all kiss my ass; I knew it was really getting to Bella though. She'd gone to bed in a bad mood and looking down at her now I knew the morning wasn't going to be any better. I'd felt sorry for being the one to put her in the position to have rumors spread about her so I'd entered quietly and was going to gently wake her up to her favorite breakfast; except the mess of hair on her pillow stopped me.

I knew the prank, everyone did… you sprinkle fake hair all over the pillow so when the person wakes up it looks like their hair had been cut off. Unfortunately for Bella we live with the only clumsy vampire in history. Felix's stupid ass had really cut Bella's hair. There were random short pieces just chopped all to hell. I shook my head and closed my eyes, this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Bella, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open in shock, no doubt surprised to see me leaning over her instead of kicking open the door.

"James, what's wrong?"

She sat up and ran a hand through her hair to smooth it down before I had a chance to warn her. She screeched and stared at me all wide eyed and pissed. Honestly, it was almost hysterical with her all fucking pissed and smoke practically coming out of her ears. I lifted my hands in the sign for _don't kill me _and backed away.

"Don't kill me! I didn't have anything to do with it, I just came to bring you your breakfast and found you like this. Christ Bella, how could you sleep through him cutting your hair off?"

Ok, I seriously thought her head was going to explode and she turned a very unnatural color of red.

"Get. Out. Now. And tell Felix he's dead when I find him."

"I'll… I'll send… Heidi in to help you fix this."

I gestured at the mess on her head and left the room in a rush, trying to hold in my laughter until I closed the door. When I explained to Heidi about Bella's hair you'd think I just told her that someone set off a nuke in the castle, Jesus; women are serious about their hair. After I sent her off to save Bella I headed for my room, and I would have gotten there a lot fucking faster if it weren't for all the fake walls Felix had set up in the hallways. I fucking hate April fool's day. Felix was going to hate it too after Bella got a hold of him.

Demetri and I spent the rest of day moving all the plaster walls out to the court yard. Felix was going to get it. He caught up to us when we were hauling the final pieces out of the castle. The only thing saving him from getting his ass kicked was the look on his face. It was obvious he felt horrible about what he'd done to Bella.

"She's never going to forgive me." He whined for the millionth time.

"Fuck! Just go buy her something shiny, girls love that shit. It's just hair, she'll get over it."

I gave him a reassuring pat on the back but it was just to make him feel better. We all knew that chics held grudges forever. Bella would probably still be giving him shut a hundred years down the road.

"I'm going to go apologize again."

Felix was slinking away with his head hung low. I followed him into the castle towards mine and Bella's hallway, shaking dust and pieces of wall off my clothes. I needed to change before heading for the feeding room.

"Hey, shouldn't you go feed too? Didn't you miss yesterday's?" Felix had been guarding Aro for two days straight and was close to breaking my rules about feeding on a regular basis. He nodded but kept walking.

"I'm alright. I'll feed as soon as Heidi brings in the next group. As long as Bella doesn't bust an artery while she's screaming at me I'll be fine."

There was a hint of the evil smile that Felix usually had and all I could do was shake my head. That bastard may have been a fuck up but he was definitely trust worthy. More than any other vampires in the castle I knew he and Demetri would never hurt Bella. I felt too bad for him to fight the issue.

I left him at Bella's door, and when he knocked there was no reply from inside. I wasn't all that surprised. She was still pissed and probably didn't want to talk. It was obvious she was in there though, we could hear her heart pounding away. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, letting a draft of air out into the hall way.

The scent that was coming from Bella's room startled me and all I could do was stand there like an idiot even though I could hear Felix's animal like snarl. It took me another second before I snapped out of it and dove for Bella's room. Felix had dropped into a crouch and was about to spring at Bella who was currently drenched in blood and lying on the floor.

"What the fuck is going on in here?"

Bella had scrambled up and wrapped herself into a tiny ball in the corner, she was shaking like a leaf in the wind. My senses were all fucking confused. I could see her covered in blood, but it didn't smell like hers. Something was very wrong.

I screamed for help and threw my arms around Felix in a desperate attempt to hold him back. It wouldn't last long though; he outweighed me by a good fifty pounds and was in a full bloodlust trance. I was struggling with my own thirst and knew if something didn't happen soon Bella was going to be a dead little girl.

Demetri showed up a second later and I could see it in his eyes, the scent of blood was turning him into a monster. Luckily he had enough strength to hold it back and help me pin Felix to the ground. Felix was putting up one hell of a fucking fight though. It felt like my arms were about to rip out of their sockets.

"Dammit Bella, go get in the fucking shower and wash that shit off NOW!"

The second she was out of the room Felix broke free and dove for the bathroom door. At that exact second Victoria, Sasha and Laurent showed up. With the extra hands we were able to completely pin Felix and he started to calm down. Once the bloodlust subsided the look on his face was one I knew all to well. He looked the same way I had after I'd almost attacked Bella in the game room; really fucking scared.

"Is she ok?"

His voice was small and unsteady; it sounded so weird coming from Felix.

"Yeah, she's fine."

I ran a hand through my hair and collapsed back onto the wall next to the bathroom. It had been hundreds of years since I'd felt tired, but at that moment the memory was clear in my mind. I let my head fall back against the wall and closed my eyes.

"Fuck! What the fuck was that?"

We were all silent and the only sound in the room was the rush of water while Bella showered. I could still hear her heart pumping at a accelerated pace. She must have still been scared. Shit, I would be too if I were her.

"Send someone in here with some fucking bleach. Now!"

I screamed at everyone without giving any of them the direct order and they all scrambled out of the room. Only seconds later some random guard showed up with a bucket of water and some bleach to clean up the remaining blood on the floor.

While he scrubbed I tried to think of any logical reason for Bella to be lying on the ground covered in blood but I wasn't coming up with a damn thing_. Fuck! _What had she been thinking? The water in the bathroom shut off so I snapped at the guard to take off.

I hated to have to reprimand Bella like a child but this was one incident that needed it. She stuck her head out of the door and peaked at me through her wet hair.

"Get in here now." I pointed at the couch and didn't even flinch at the sight of her in a towel this time. Instead of following my orders she pressed her back up against the wall next to the bathroom and practically yelped in fear when I looked at her. What the hell? It wasn't like I was going to hit her or something. Seeing her cowering against the wall just at the sight of my anger made me calm down slightly.

"Do you want to tell me why you're suddenly suicidal?"

I was hoping that if she at least had a good excuse I wouldn't have to be so pissed at her.

After she explained her little plan with Cassandra, of all people, I knew what had to be done. I ordered her to stay in her room until further notice. Fuck, I had actually grounded her like I was her father or something. I couldn't bring myself to even speak to her the rest of the day though; I was too scared of what I might say.

I was feeling so many God damn emotions it felt like I was going to explode. Shame over knowing that I'd come so close to being the same animal the Felix had become at one time, fear over the thought of how close I'd come to losing Bella and anger at Cassandra for being such a ruthless bitch. Her plan would have worked if I hadn't been right there. Felix would have killed Bella and no one would have ever known why it had happened.

As expected word traveled quickly and Aro showed up to reprimand Bella. She took it like a champ though; nodding her head and promising to never do anything that stupid again. He took away her castle privileges, confining her to her room unless accompanied by myself or one of his personal guards. I think he was letting her off easy since he thought of her as the daughter he'd never had. Aro treasured Bella almost as much as I did. In the end he just looked relieved to see her safe and sound. Bella must have had nine lives or something. She'd almost been bitten by Aro, myself and now Felix. Goddamn… how many chances did she have left?

It was about the usual time that Bella passed out at night so I went to check on her one last time. I watched as she pulled the covers down on her bed and brushed out her new short hair. Bella looked exhausted; a good night's sleep was exactly what she needed. She sat on the bed and looked at me expectantly, she knew what was coming. It was my turn to have a talk with her.

"First of all, you're not to have any contact of any kind with Cassandra, understand?"

Bella nodded frantically. Not that she'd have to worry about running into that evil witch again; I'd make sure of that. I looked into her big brown eyes and lost it. I hated how fragile Bella was; if I lost her I don't know what I would have done. My barely controlled frustration finally broke loose in a torrent of angry words.

"That was the stupidest thing you've ever done Isabella." I couldn't stop my tirade, not even when little tears formed in the corner of Bella's eyes. "Felix nearly killed you. If I hadn't smelled the blood and came to see what was wrong he would have killed you. He feels terrible about it and you should apologize as soon as you see him again."

Hell; that was the fucking truth. I'd never seen the poor guy so upset. After he'd gorged himself in the feeding room he'd hid in the watch tower, refusing to talk to anyone. I'd never seen Felix unable to bounce back from anything before.

Bella just kept nodding and breathing all hard to keep from really crying. I couldn't take it anymore; I crossed the room in a flash and pulled her into my arms. Just feeling her warm skin on mine made me feel better. I would miss her warmth once she was a vampire. For the first time I really appreciated Bella's beating heart.

"Please don't ever scare me like that again."

Bella had given into her tears and sobbed against my chest. Somewhere between her hiccups and gasps for air she'd promised not to. Before there was a replay of New Years eve I helped her into bed and smoothed the hair off her forehead. Her eyes were red and puffy already and the crying had just made it worse. It was obvious that she felt like shit and had enough of people telling her how much she'd fucked up. Before long she was breathing evenly, from the movement behind her eyelids I could tell she was off somewhere in a dream; hopefully something pleasant.

As much as I wanted to stay with her there was something I had to take care of, a certain vampire actually. I left her room and found Demetri waiting just outside her door.

"What are you going to do?"

I could see the anger in his eyes; Demetri who was usually so calm and collected wanted Cassandra's head on a platter just as much as I did.

"I have to go talk to The Brother's before I do anything, after what happened with Chase they'd probably hang me from my balls if I went after Cassandra on my own."

Demetri forced a chuckled and I smiled weakly. As much as I would like to just hunt her down and rip her limb from limb, there were procedures to follow. At least this time I was positive I'd be given permission to punish Cassandra as I saw fit. The Brother's just wanted to be asked first. Fine, I'd play their game and make them feel like they were in control.

"Stay here and keep an eye on Bella. I have a feeling she's not going to sleep well."

Demetri nodded and leaned back against the wall, he'd probably planned on staying there all night anyway.

I didn't bother trying to find Cassandra first, if I had to deal with her at the moment she'd end up in the same place as Chase and that wouldn't be good for either of us. As hard as it was to reign in my anger I knew it had to be done or else I'd lose my own head. When I reached the thrown room I didn't bother with formalities or courtesy. I threw the fucking door open, almost ripping it off the hinges. All three of the vampires looked at me expectantly. Obviously Aro had already discussed the situation with Caius and Marcus.

"Give me permission to kill Cassandra."

Marcus lifted one evil eyebrow at me and Caius just looked uninterested; like I'd just asked to borrow a cup of sugar instead of permission to kill a vampire that had served him for over a hundred years.

"Don't be so hasty James."

I was practically seething by that point. If those three idiots had listened to me in the first place none of that shit would have happened. Now Aro was telling me to calm the fuck down? I opened my mouth to protest but Aro held up a hand to silence me.

"We all agree that Cassandra should be punished, but death is a little extreme don't you think?"

Something in his voice gave him away. I could tell Aro wouldn't mind one bit if I snapped that bitches head off and used it as a soccer ball. I studied Caius and Marcus, trying to decide which one of them objected to her execution.

"Fine. What kind of punishment would please you Master?"

The words had to be forced past my teeth. What I really wanted to say was that they were all a bunch of morons and their games were getting old. This was fucking stupid. What would it take for them to see Cassandra would kill Bella the next time she had a chance?

"Something to remind Cassandra of her position in this castle, and something that will keep her a safe distance from our little Bella for quite some time. I'll let you work out the details."

An evil smile graced Aro's lips. Finally, he was giving me some leeway. There was a spark in his eyes that reminded me of who I was dealing with. Even though the three of them were civilized now, they had at one point been sadistic killers; Aro was telling me in a roundabout way to leave Cassandra barely alive. I could do that.

I nodded and left the room with a sense of satisfaction. Cassandra would get what was coming to her and there was one other person who would want to participate in this as much as I did.

Felix was still in the lookout tower on the East end of the castle with his face buried in his hands when I found him. He had ignored my entrance and I wasn't sure how to break the silence.

"Yo."

I had never been the best at knowing what to say at times like these, whatever. He still didn't move, didn't respond; if I hadn't known better I would have thought he were a statue.

"Felix, man… it wasn't your fault."

This time he did move. He turned his head to look me in the eye. I would have expected him to be angry, to tell me to shut the fuck up; but he just looked so fucking defeated.

"I always thought I'd be stronger than that. I didn't even see Bella though. The scent was so strong that I couldn't even think. If you hadn't been there…"

He looked up at me and I swear I saw the guys heart break right there in front of me. I sat on the window ledge next to him and let my legs dangle over the wall. There were a few guards walking through the court yard but that was it; the night was still. I couldn't think of anything to say to him that might make him feel better. Well… there was one thing. The only time with Bella that I wanted to just forget.

"I almost lost it with Bella, a few months ago. We were in the game room talking about that douche bag Chase and I hadn't fed in a few days. I came so close to just fucking biting her man, she just smells so appetizing."

I smiled at Felix , thinking for sure he'd at least fake a grin; he just looked like he would be sick if it were possible.

"Look, it's just our nature. There was bound to be some close calls at some point, the only thing that matters is that Bella is ok. It won't happen again."

Felix didn't look so sure, but at least he was finally nodding.

"So, want to help me teach that cunt Cassandra a lesson?"

Goddammit, he finally fucking smiled. A genuine, evil Felix smile. I laughed and pushed myself forward, jumping from the tower to the ground below while he followed. If I knew Cassandra she'd be by the pool telling some spreading the gossip about what had happened.

Sure enough we found her surrounded by peons; listening to her every word like it was fucking scripture or something. She looked up at me and smiled like the animal she was.

"James sweety, how can I help you?"

This time I'd let her think she'd won, it wouldn't last long though. I smiled and dropped my chin slightly. Her eyes narrowed and she took a step closer to me. What a stupid fuck.

"Why don't we take a walk?"

Cassandra stood and wrapped her towel around her waist, completely ignoring everyone she'd just been talking to. I headed south, towards the old part of the castle. Anyone with half a brain would have figured out what was going on right away; there was only one reason to go out there. Cassandra looped her arm around mine and talked non stop the entire time.

"Is he coming with us?"

Cassandra nodded towards Felix who was following a few feet behind us; looking like a demon from hell with fire in his eyes. I just shrugged and kept walking, letting her come up with her own explanation. Once we reached the outer room of the dungeons she started to start get the hint.

"What are we doing?"

She pulled away from me and crossed her arms over her chest taking a firm stance; I stifled a laugh. This chic though she could take me.

"This is your new home."

I gestured towards the iron door next to me and felt my smile grow even wider when Cassandra's narrowed eyes grew wide in shock.

"Marcus won't let you-"

With a swift back hand I shut her up before she could get any real momentum going. The girl could fucking talk and once she started it didn't stop. I wasn't in the mood for that shit.

"Marcus has already given his permission." Felix had rounded us in a flash and was hovering behind her. "I warned you to stay away from Bella. Now suffer the punishment."

I looked at Felix, giving him a signal without saying a word and watched with a sick excitement as he reached to take a hold of her arms. With one powerful jerk he ripped them from her body, piercing the silent room with the horrible tearing noise we were all familiar with. Even for a vampire, having your limbs torn from your body was a painful experience.

Cassandra didn't even have time to make a face when Felix had grabbed her, but now she was screaming and withering on the ground. Her towel had fallen to the floor and all her wiggling was making her top come lose. I sneered in disgust at the sight of her naked body; to me she was nothing more than an animal.

"No! Don't do this to me! It's not fair… it wasn't my fault."

Felix and I both laughed at her. I'm sure if I were facing an unknown amount of time in the bottom of the dungeon I'd probably be lying and begging too.

"What you did was wrong and the lowest form of evil I can think of. Bella never did a thing to you. Maybe a few years in the dark to think about your actions will straighten you out."

I lifted her from the floor, holding her up with my arms around her waist. Felix leaned over to grip each ankle and pulled her legs from their sockets in her hips. She was nothing more than a useless piece of crap now. He held open the metal door and gave a salute as I tossed her body into the deep pit. Her screams were echoing off the stone walls and bouncing through the hallways. No wonder no one ever came down here anymore, that shit was annoying.

"What should we do with these?"

Felix kicked at the jerking limbs on the floor, sending an arm flying towards the wall.

"Lock them in the cell next to her. She'll probably want them back after they let her out."

Once he had all body parts taken care of we headed towards the game room with Felix in much better spirits.

"I should do something for Bella. You know… to make up for almost killing her."

I gave Felix a suspicious look. The bounce was back in his step and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

"Why don't you just apologize and leave it at that."

He was completely ignoring me, lost in deep thought about whatever bullshit idea he had to make things up to our little human. No, my little human.

I sighed in frustration. Why was it so hard to keep one chic safe? Between her enemies and her friends, Bella was running out of chances here in the castle. I made a mental note to ask Aro when he planned to change her into a vampire. With the way things were going the sooner the better.

**A/N Sorry this is late everyone, the universe did not want me to get this posted today. **


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Okay first things first, sorry it's so short and that you don't get to hear from yummy, yummy James today but Laura and I got a little tired of writing the same thing twice (we're not saying that we won't do it again in the future but we wanted to do something different this time). Secondly I think the content of the chapter will make you guys very happy!!! So don't forget to review! ~Manda~**

**Chapter 10 **

**BPOV**

_**One year later**_

The four years since I came to the castle passed so quickly I almost couldn't believe it. What was even more unbelievable was that I was actually looking forward to my birthday party. I'd somehow managed to talk everyone out of the grandiose ball that was normally held for me. I had a feeling that the reason Aro had agreed and forced Heidi to agree was because he seemed to be preparing himself to tell me something that he knew I wouldn't like and he wanted to keep me happy...for now. I couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom but I was determined not to let it overshadow my party.

I let out an exasperated sigh and tried yet again to concentrate on my book.

"Something wrong Bella?" James asked innocently from across the library.

He was the only one of my friends left in the castle; everyone else had been sent out on missions, at least that's what I was told. I found it hard to believe that the Brothers had sent out all but one of their elite guards at the same time but I just left it alone for once. I was sure that whatever they were doing either had something to do with my birthday or with Aro's secret and I really didn't want to know.

Since Felix wasn't here to annoy me James had taken it upon himself to fill in for him. He'd been tormenting me ever since he'd brought my breakfast this morning and I was reaching the end of my rope. James's foot was rhythmically tapping against a side table and the handheld video game he was playing had the sound effects turned up full blast. Normally I would have been able to ignore him but he'd been pushing me all day.

I slammed my book down on the table and crossed my arms; glaring at him. "Are you going to punish me all day because you're the one who got left behind to babysit me?" I spat.

Much to my annoyance James stood up and strode across the room pouting. "I'm sorry Bella; I'll just leave you alone then."

I could see the laughter in his eyes that he was trying to control and I wasn't about to fall for his trick and feel sorry for him. As he passed my chair I stuck my foot out and tripped him. I never would have thought that I could actually trip a vampire but James's eyes opened wide in shock as he started to fall and his hand shot out to try and steady himself. I braced myself for the pain of a broken bone when his grasping hand landed on my arm but he just pulled me down with him. I landed on top of him and all the air was momentarily pushed from my lungs. When I was finally able to catch my breath I smirked down at him.

"The Brothers head guard brought to the floor by a mere human girl."

James didn't seem to hear me. He was staring at me with an almost pained look on his face and his eyes were steadily becoming darker. He moved so quickly that I didn't even see him; one moment I was staring into his eyes and the next his lips were pressed against mine. I froze, not knowing what to do. On one hand I desperately wanted to kiss him back, the memory of our New Year's kiss two years before hadn't faded but on the other hand I wanted to kick his ass for acting like a pouting child all day. When I felt his lips part and his tongue lightly trace my lips I gave into my desires and opened my mouth to him.

He moaned beneath me as my tongue met his. I inhaled his cool, minty breath and felt my eyes roll back in my head; how had I gone for two years without kissing this man? This kiss was in no way comparable to our last one, the last kiss was sweet and filled with restraint and hesitancy whereas this kiss was releasing all of our pent up emotions.

I started pulling away from him when I felt my lungs burning from lack of oxygen but he held me to him for a few more seconds before releasing me. I slowly opened my eyes to see him looking at me pleadingly.

"I can't resist anymore Bella."

I bit my bottom lip and pretended to think for a moment while running my fingers through his hair. It was just as soft as I'd always imagined it to be and I couldn't keep my hands from brushing through it repeatedly.

"Then don't."

As soon as the words left my mouth he was kissing me again; I giggled as I kissed him back. His hands ran down my back and came to rest on my hips. I brought my knees up to rest on either side of his waist and pressed myself closer to him. At every point where our skin touched I could feel an electric current flowing through me. I ran my hands down the sides of his face, down his neck and onto his chest. I moaned at the muscles I could feel through his shirt. I wanted to rip off his shirt so I could touch more of his skin but in order to do that I would have to stop kissing him. When I needed to breathe again he kissed every inch of my face and grinned stupidly at me before his face grew serious. He slowly lowered his lips to the pulse point on my neck.

"I'll never let it happen again. I swear."

"James, I never blamed you for what happened. You were hungry and I forced you to stay in the room with me. Then I got right up in your face and practically pushed my blood under your nose. Don't feel guilty for that anymore."

He buried his face in my hair and inhaled deeply. "Mine."

I pulled away and looked down at him disbelievingly. "Excuse me?"

He chuckled. "I've just thought of you as…I'm not sure. You're my family but I don't see you the way everyone else does. For years I've thought of you as mine. It's my responsibility to make sure that you're happy and safe and up until now I've tried to do everything that I could to make that happen; I just hope that you'll let me do more now."

I glared down at him. "You're just trying to get me to have sex with you aren't you Wyman?"

The look of horror that crossed his face broke my resolve and I started laughing. He flipped us so that he was on top of me and started tickling me.

"That wasn't very funny Isabella."

"Sto…stop, stop I'm sorry!" I squealed.

He stopped and gently pushed my hair out of my face.

"James." I whispered and wound my fingers back into his hair, pulling his face down to me. "Mine." I growled up at him.

He kissed me until I was panting for breath again while his hands left no part of my body untouched. His knee came to rest between my legs and pressed into the apex of my thighs. Between his kisses he was whispering to me; telling me how beautiful I was and how long he'd wanted to hold me like this. His knee was grounding into me, making the seam of my jeans create a delicious friction. I was moaning and arching my back when the library door crashed open.

"Bella; James, we're-" Felix bounded into the room and froze when he spotted us. He stared down at us for a moment before crossing his arms and smirking. He turned toward the doorway and shouted. "Demetri, you guys are never gonna guess what I just walked in on!"

Within seconds the rest of our friends were filing into the room to smirk at us. I groaned and pressed my face into James's neck. "You know we're never going to hear the end of this don't you?"

James nodded and sighed as he stood up; pulling me with him he wrapped his arms around me and tried to glare at the group of vampires that was gathered around us but he failed miserably since he couldn't stop smiling.

"It's about damn time." Laurent snickered; everyone else nodded in agreement except for Demetri.

"James, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone." Demetri asked, tilting his head toward the door.

"Um…sure. Bella I'll meet you in your room." James bent down and lightly kissed me before following Demetri into the hallway.

I looked questioningly at the others who were all rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at James's retreating back.

"What is that all about?"

"Nothing B; don't worry about it. Now come on lets go to your room; you have to tell us everything." Heidi informed me as her and the rest of the girls ushered me from the library.

Before I knew it I was sitting on my bed telling them all about my day. When I finished they all looked at me thoughtfully.

"I'm so happy for you Bella! But if you guys had just listened to us you could have been together a long time ago." Heidi sighed.

"Yeah, yeah I know." I waved her off.

"Are you going to have sex with him tonight?" Jane defiantly lacked any amount of tact; my theory was that she had been changed so young that her brain hadn't developed far enough to understand that you shouldn't just speak whatever popped into your head.

"Jane! We just kissed; I thought I cleared up all of those rumors about me just using men a long time ago."

"Oh Bella, you know that's not what I meant. I just wanted to know how long you were going to make him wait. I mean we all know that he's been fantasizing about you ever since that first trip to the beach when he saw you in a bikini. How much longer are you going to make the guy suffer?"

I giggled when I thought back to that trip. I'd spent the whole time we were on the island wearing the skimpiest clothes I could find just to see if James would notice. Of course that also made me think of Chase and what a disaster that had been. I shook my head to clear Chase's face from my memory.

"I don't know Jane, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"So he said you were _his_?" Sasha asked. I smiled at her, grateful that she had changed the subject.

"Yeah. Why, does that have some special vampire meaning?" I laughed.

"Oh no, nothing like that." Victoria said quickly; she reached over and pinched Sasha on the arm and shot her a meaningful look.

Before I could ask what they were hiding from me James knocked briefly on the door and came in without waiting for me to answer.

"Ladies." He waved his hand toward the still open door.

"Well Bella, I guess that's our subtle hint to leave." Tiny little Jane strode across the room and stood toe to toe with James. "If you hurt her I'll torture you for a month." She smiled sweetly at him and skipped from the room without waiting for him to say anything, leaving us all staring after her in shock. The rest of the girls quickly followed her and James shut the door behind them.

"Finally." He dashed across the room and scooped me into his arms. "It's late _Tesoro_ let's get you in bed."

"Hey, I never did ask anyone what that means."

"What, _Tesoro_?"

I nodded.

"It means sweetheart." He kissed me on the forehead as he tucked me under the blankets and lay down beside me.

I turned on my side so I could look up at him. He slowly leaned over me and brought his lips down to mine; applying just the slightest hint of pressure. I growled in irritation which made him chuckle. He continued his feather-light kisses on my lips as his hands roamed my body. I jumped slightly when his cool hands found their way under my tank top causing goose bumps break out across my flesh; whether from the temperature of his hands or from the fact that he was touching me I couldn't tell. When I leaned up to try and kiss him harder he pulled away from me.

"Now Bella, I can't let you go and get all excited right before you try and go to sleep. I'll never be able to get you up in the morning. Then I'll have to let the girls come in and have their way with you. You know they're so upset that they don't get to dress you up like a princess for your birthday this year." He grinned down at me evilly.

"You wouldn't do that to me on my birthday would you?" I gave him my best pout.

He sucked my lower lip into his mouth for a second then kissed me deeply.

"You bet I would." He laughed.

I shrieked in annoyance when he quickly flipped me over onto my other side and tucked me in next to him.

"Get some sleep _Tesoro_, and then you won't have to worry about me throwing you to the wolves in the morning."

I snuggled closer to his side and inhaled deeply, he smelled like the old books in the library, roses and the faint metallic scent of blood.

"Goodnight James."

"Goodnight B." He ran his fingers through my hair, relaxing me until I fell asleep.

------------------

"Bella, wake up beautiful." James whispered in my ear.

I tried to push him away and roll over but he held me still and started kissing my neck.

"You know, I think I like waking up this way much better than you trying to slam my door through the wall."

He chuckled and helped me sit up.

"Well I might still do that every once in awhile; just to keep you on your toes."

I glared at him as I took the mug of coffee of the tray he'd brought to me. "Thanks for breakfast."

He lifted his eyebrows and placed his hand over his heart.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you realize that this is the first time that you've ever thanked me for bringing you food?"

"Oh come on! I've been here for four years, I'm sure that I've thanked you before."

He shook his head at me and smirked. "I'm a vampire Bella. I would remember if you had."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine. I'm sorry I haven't thanked you before. I'm a spoiled brat and your life must have been hell these last four years because you've been forced to bring the thankless princess breakfast everyday that I've been here." I told him sarcastically.

"Not hell _Tesoro_." He climbed on top of me and kissed his way up my body until he reached my mouth. "Happy birthday Princess."

"Thank you baby." I wrapped my arms around his neck. "So you managed to hold the wolves at bay this morning?"

He laughed. "Not really. They're giving their reports to The Brothers right now. I'm sure they'll be here as soon as they're done so you better start eating because you know that they won't wait for you to finish if you're not done when they get here."

I groaned as he climbed off of me and went over to turn the TV on. I lifted the lid off the tray and squealed happily. James smiled at me.

"The cook said that it was your favorite breakfast."

"He was right." I mumbled around the giant bite of French toast stuffed with strawberries that I had just shoved into my mouth.

I finished my breakfast then washed my face and brushed my teeth before curling up next to James on the sofa to read while he watched the stupid truck show that he insisted on watching every morning. We managed to get forty-five minutes alone before Victoria and Sasha showed up to drag me off. I had a feeling that James had warned them to give us some time this morning.

Sasha carried me into Heidi's room and into her bathroom that I swore belonged in some fancy hair salon somewhere. Then the torture began. Not the hair, nails and waxing; I was used to that stuff by now and actually enjoyed it. No, the torture was the one million questions that were being hurled at me from all sides.

I sat quietly and waited for them to notice that they were pretty much just talking to themselves. Finally Jane wondered in and took one look around the room before she burst out laughing.

"This is what you guys hole up in here and do for hours at a time? I'm hurt that you all haven't been inviting me!"

I giggled and tossed a bottle of nail polish at her; I knew that she wasn't offended by being left out of our 'girly parties' as she called them. Jane was vehemently opposed to anything girlish.

"Jane, it's my birthday so you have to at least let us give you a manicure and pedicure and paint your nails." I insisted.

Heidi beamed at Jane who looked scared. Heidi had been dying to get a hold of Jane for years but was too afraid of her to push her too much. After they got Jane settled in a chair next to me the questions started again but much more reasonably this time.

"So Bella, how was your night?" Victoria asked from her spot on the floor where she was removing my toenail polish.

"My night was great, how about yours?"

She rolled her eyes and gave me an annoyed look.

"What do you want to know?" I sighed.

"What did you guys do after we left last night?" Heidi was talking so fast I almost couldn't understand her.

"We talked for a little bit then I went to sleep."

"Uh huh talked." Jane smirked.

"Okay maybe we didn't talk too much but I don't think it's any of your business what we did. Or didn't do." I added quickly when I saw Jane getting ready to open her mouth again.

"Fine; don't tell us. We just wanted to make sure that you were comfortable with everything. We all know what happened with Chase." Sasha said softly, putting her arm around me.

I stiffened when she mentioned Chase's name. I knew that no matter what I did to piss James off or what happened between us he would never treat me the way Chase did.

"I'm not stupid. I know that Chase is the only relationship experience I've had but I know that what I had with him isn't the way a relationship is supposed to be. James would never use me like that."

"We know that too Bella but we wanted to make sure you understood what you're getting yourself into by starting a relationship with a real man; a real vampire." Victoria stopped her work on my feet for a moment to look up at me.

"What do you mean? What am I getting myself into?"

"Vampires are very territorial B. You've only seen our casual relationships and The Brothers with their wives. Casual relationships with vampires are pretty much the same as say human one night stands; you're using each other for mutual pleasure with no strings attached. But mating is very different. I'm sure you've noticed that The brothers, even Marcus, don't even pretend to be interested in any other females. We mate for life Bella." Heidi held up her hand when I started to interrupt her. "I know what you're going to say and don't even bother. You guys have been dancing around each other ever since you stepped foot in this castle. The bond may not be as strong as it will be when you're change but trust me; you and James **are** mates. And I think that he already knows that."

"What does that mean? What am I supposed to do?" My brain was trying desperately to keep up. I knew that I had very intense feelings for James but I wasn't sure if I was ready to commit the rest of my existence to a man that I couldn't stand half of the time.

"It means that you're going to have to get used to James being super overprotective of you." Jane said absently as she looked through the nail polish.

"He can't possibly be worse than he is now."

They all laughed and shook their heads at me.

"For two years now James hasn't had any other duties besides protecting you. If you thought he was bad before just wait and see how he acts now that he's finally admitted to himself that he has feelings for you." Alex said from the doorway.

We all looked over at him questioningly. The guys never ventured into Heidi's room in fear that they would be forced into a makeover themselves.

"I lost a bet and was forced to come up and tell you that everything is set up in the media room."

Without waiting for a reply he turned and sprinted from the room.

We quickly finished up and went to meet the guys for a day of movies and lots of junk food for me. In my opinion the perfect birthday party.

**AN: Okay guys I was so nervous about this chapter so please review and let me know if you like it!! ~Manda~**

**AN: The faster you review the sooner you can get James's next chapter which isn't the same as this one but it does contain his thoughts on it. Plus if you're really good then it may just have some adult content for your reading pleasure. ~sleepy~**


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Thanks to Manda Panda for all her help with the Bella parts.. sorry, I am so not good at that XD Hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Please keep the reviews coming and I will keep ignoring my husband to write this lol. And let me apologize now for some of the random shit that goes on in this chapter, I was a little out of it while writing.

Chapter 13

"There's something I have to tell you."

Shit, it's never good when someone starts out a conversation that way. I just stared at Demetri and waited for him to tell me whatever it was that was so fucking important he had to drag me away from Bella. It figured that when I finally got to really kiss Bella- the best fucking kiss I'd ever had by the way- all these idiots would show up to ruin the moment. Now Demetri had dragged me out the court yard to talk. What the fuck?

"When did all this start with Bella?"

"For fuck's sake. Is that was this is about?" I rolled my eyes in frustration. "For your information it all just… happened. Like right now, right before you got back." I gestured erratically like some sort of psychopathic freak to show him that literally we had just kissed; and I really wanted to go finish what I'd started.

"And you're sure it's a good idea?"

Demetri was being uncharacteristically concerned over my ability to make a decision regarding Bella and myself. In the past he'd even encouraged me to go after her, something was really fucking fishy. Felix. That ass told Demetri about what happened in the game room, that's all it could be. Now Demetri was all paranoid that I was going to take a bite out of everyone's favorite human.

"Look, it only happened that one time! I would never hurt Bella and you know that. Get off my-"

I stopped talking when I noticed the confused look Demetri was giving me. Ok... So he didn't know about the incident in the game room. Shit. Now I was totally fucking confused. He shook his head slightly and pressed his lips together with normal Demetri concern.

"That's not what I meant. I know you would never physically harm Bella, but she is emotionally vulnerable. You saw how upset she was after Chase. You can't just treat this like any other hook up James."

If he wasn't being so serious I would have laughed in his face. He was right about one thing, what was happening between Bella and I wasn't just any hook up. It was so much more, I could feel it already.

"Demetri, you don't have to worry. I think-" I swallowed my next words down; it was almost too hard to say them out loud. It seemed too soon to be for sure, but the feelings were so strong it had to be right. What was happening between Bella and I had taken years to develop, this wasn't just some game.

"I think she's the one; my mate."

I scratched the back of my head and tried to act cool while he just stood there gaping at me. Mouth open, eyes wide, fucking gaping.

"Are you sure about this James?"

He looked almost like he felt sorry for me all of a sudden. What the hell?

"Of course I'm sure. I love her, I always have. It just took me four fucking years to admit it."

"What if Bella doesn't feel the same way?"

We stared each other down for a second while I thought this over. I wouldn't believe that. Maybe she didn't grasp what mating meant just yet, but I had no doubt in my mind that she could love me for eternity the way I loved her.

"If she doesn't want to be my mate then oh well. I'll just deal with that when it comes."

I crossed my arms over my chest and pressed my teeth together. That wasn't something I really wanted to think about. Demetri sighed and hung his head.

"This just makes things so much harder then."

What? Made what harder? It was my turn to gape now. I wished he would just get to the fucking point.

"We weren't on the missions you thought we were. The Brother's sent us to scout out Forks, Washington. They want to send Bella there to spy on a coven of vampires. It's also a test of her loyalty and abilities to see if she's ready to be turned and become a member of the guard."

The anger started; my out of control, mind of its own anger. I could see Demetri's mouth moving but all I could hear was the furious roar of static in my ears. It couldn't be true. There was no way in HELL they were sending MY Bella to spy on some fucking vampires.

A test? They wanted to fucking test her? After she'd spent half her life trapped in the castle, obeying their orders, being separated from the people she loved; and they wanted to test her? How could they doubt her loyalty now?

Before Demetri could stop me I turned to do something stupid. I ran back into the castle and to the three vampires who wanted to take away my Bella. They were in the feeding chambers; I could still hear the screams echoing off the walls. It made me think of the first time Bella came to the castle, the memory I hated most. Because at that time I had no idea who she was or anything about her except that her blood smelled so fucking amazing and I wanted to taste it so bad. She still had nightmares about that shit sometimes, yet she loved us. She loved creatures that could take her life at any moment. How could they doubt her?

I entered the chambers just as Caius was dropping the last human to the floor, a middle aged woman with brown hair and a camera hanging from her neck. Godammit; that woman had been a young girl once, just like Bella. She'd had hopes and dreams, fears and beliefs, and now she was nothing. Her life hadn't been worth shit in Caius or anyone else's eyes though. Is that what they would do to Bella if she didn't prove herself worthy?

"Why wasn't I told about Bella being sent away?"

Marcus turned his red eyes on me with an evil smirk. That fucker liked to see me suffer.

"Because we knew you'd just throw a tantrum, like you are now."

I wouldn't let him get to me, this wasn't even about me. It was about Bella. She was all that ever mattered.

"It's the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard. Send a _human_ to spy on vampires."

The muscles in Marcus' jaw clenched and Caius actually narrowed his eyes at me, but it was Aro who spoke. He used his icy voice that was meant to threaten, but I was beyond caring.

"It would be wise for you to choose your words more carefully."

I slammed my fist into the wall, leaving a large hole in the stone. This wasn't something I would back down from. Suddenly Felix was beside me, slipping an arm around my shoulders to keep me from getting into my master's face. The room was deathly quiet while I regained my composure. My eyes kept wandering to the woman Caius had just killed. That would never be my Bella, even if I had to take her away from here myself. An idea struck me at that moment.

"Fine. Then let me go with her! I'll keep my distance. I'll just stay close enough to keep an eye on her."

Marcus chuckled and headed for the door while speaking, obviously not giving a shit about what I was saying. "That's impossible. You know as well as I that we can't hide from our own species. Besides, this coven has members that possess special powers. They can read minds and see the future, you would give away Isabella's position."

He was giving me a smug grin while I glared back. He should know better than the rest of them what I was going through; after all, he had lost his mate. How could he be enjoying this? Didn't he care about Bella?

"An even better fucking idea! Send Bella to spy on _psychic _vampires. Fucking genius!"

Aro's angry voice echoed off the walls in the small chamber while he yelled at me "We have reason to believe that their powers won't work on Isabella and if she gathers enough information to prove to us that they are not a threat we may invite them here. They would be a powerful asset to our guard. The only problem is that they do not feed off humans and may find our way of life undesirable. If they see that a human can live among us as Isabella has they might be convinced that we are not evil, just different."

Not evil my ass. The three vampires before me were pure fucking evil incarnate. I opened my mouth to protest but Aro cut me off again.

"This is our decision and it's final. If you try to interfere you will be disciplined James. But I would prefer you cooperate and help train Isabella."

Aro had laid a firm hand on my shoulder but his words weren't doing shit to comfort me. I knew he was reading my thoughts and his eyes widened, I'm sure you could probably guess what he was seeing. The look in his eyes softened slightly and he removed his hand.

"I'm sorry James. This is how it has to be. Just have faith in her and myself. "

Fuck. There was nothing left to say after that. Bella and I had finally gotten over our own stubborn feelings to be together and now they were trying to take her away and put her in danger. It wasn't fucking fair. I stomped out of the room and through the castle; slamming doors and punching shit along the way. I was making so much noise I hadn't noticed Felix following behind me.

"Go the fuck away, traitor."

He hung his head a little but didn't stop.

"I'm serious. I can't believe none of you had the balls to tell me where you were really going. Just leave me alone."

"It was a direct order man! I would have told you, you know that… But Aro insisted that you would flip your lid and, he was sort of right…"

He had been jogging to keep up with me and as I spun to face him I the big fucker almost walked right into me.

"I have every right to be flipping my fucking lid! They're sending Bella halfway across the fucking planet to spy on some pussy ass vampires who eat deer! I don't understand why you aren't more concerned asshole."

Felix's frowned slightly and rubbed his hands together, something he only did when he was nervous or anxious.

"Trust me man, I was concerned. That's why I was all for going out there to check things out before they sent Bella. From what we could see this coven lives like humans. They work, go to school, and only eat animals. It's sort of weird…"

This did nothing to calm my fears either. We all knew that it was possible to live off of animals, but I wasn't a satisfying lifestyle. Any one of those vampires could snap and take a human at any moment.

"Look, just try not to worry so much right now. It's not going to be for another year at least. It's Bella's birthday tomorrow. Just try to be happy and play nice for her."

I hated it when Felix was right. He was the dumbest fuck I knew and if he was right then it meant I was being a stupid fuck. I sighed and leaned against the wall behind me. After Bella's party the Brother's would tell her about their plans to send her away and I wasn't exactly sure how'd she react. Better to keep her happy for the time being.

"Alright. But this doesn't mean that I'm not pissed at you."

He smiled and squeezed my shoulder all brotherly and shit. I nodded and patted his arm, it was impossible to stay pissed at the guy.

We parted ways and when I reached Bella's room I stopped to put my forehead against the hard wood. With my eyes closed I concentrated on the steady beating of her heart from inside. She was mine now, really mine; it wasn't just something I told myself anymore. When she'd kissed me back in the library I'd felt it. She had given herself over to me, and I'd given myself to her. Bella didn't quite understand what it all meant yet, but eventually she would. We had time; we had forever once she was turned. If that ever happened… My hands involuntarily clenched into fists and I resisted the urge to hit something.

I took a few deep breaths and listened to the girls giggling inside, time to put a stop to that shit. I knocked on the door and let myself in, gesturing for the rest of the girls to get the fuck out. I wanted some alone time with my Bella. Our relationship had taken a huge fucking turn but I wasn't ready to discuss that shit. We'd figure out what the hell was going on between us later, for now I just wanted to touch her.

"Finally." I pulled her into my arms and took a deep breath of her wonderful scent. "It's late _Tesoro_, let's get you into bed."

She smiled up at me while I laid her down on the bed.

"Hey, I never did ask anyone what that means."

"What? _Tesoro_?"

She nodded excitedly. Shit, she caught me and my stupid ass pet name. Oh well, no use in hiding it now.

"It means sweetheart."

I gave her a kiss on the forehead and lay down beside her. Something about being in bed together made me feel all giddy and shit. She turned on her side to face me and I couldn't resist those big brown eyes. I leaned in to kiss her lips gently and couldn't help from laughing when she growled at me. Apparently Bella wasn't into the soft little kisses. My hands dipped below her tank top and roamed the warm skin of her stomach. God she felt amazing. Bella's kisses were getting rougher and more urgent so I pulled away. If she got me too excited I wouldn't let her sleep and tonight wasn't the night for that.

"Now Bella, I can't let you go and get all excited right before you try and go to sleep. I'll never be able to get you up in the morning. Then I'll have to let the girls come in and have their way with you. You know they're so upset that they don't get to dress you up like a princess for your birthday this year."

She pouted up at me in mock horror. "You wouldn't do that to me on my birthday would you?"

I pulled that pouty bottom lip into my mouth for a second; I just couldn't resist. When I released her I kept my lips pressed against hers to breathe in her air, I wanted everything from her. But it really was time for her to sleep. With our faces still together I smiled and whispered.

"You bet I would."

With a quick snap of my arm I had her flipped over with her back to me, eliciting a little shriek of frustration from her. I chuckled slightly at the sound, even now I enjoyed irritating her; just a little bit… old habits die hard. She got over it quickly though and snuggled her back deeper into my chest. Knowing that I was going to lie there all night with her in my arms and smelling her amazing scent was sending a wave of pure contentment over my body. I felt more relaxed than I had in decades. Her sleepy little voice whispered back to me.

"Good night James."

"Good night B."

It made me think of the New Years Eve we'd spent together more than two years ago. To her it probably seemed like quite awhile, but to me it was like yesterday. I had never stopped thinking about that kiss and the way she felt when my skin touched hers. We had always been meant for each other, it had just taken me this long to finally accept it. I tightened my grip arm around her waist slightly and smiled into her hair, enjoying the gentle rhythm of her breathing while she slept. I was never going to let go.

***

Alec came bolting through the door like he had a demon chasing his ass, but he always looked like that after dealing with the girls. Poor kid, I couldn't imagine what it would be like spending eternity stuck in puberty. No wonder he was such a weirdo.

"They're coming."

He collapsed onto the couch and began shuffling through the DVDs on the table in front of him. We were supposed to be relaxing and watching movies while Bella gorged herself on junk food but Felix had other ideas. He'd shown up with a case of beer and a copy of the South Park movie. I told him no fucking way was Bella getting drunk but the look in his eye said he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

I had taken a seat next to Alec and we were discussing the comedic merits of Super Troopers when she walked in. It made my stomach do a fucking flip when I saw her. I'd never thought it possible for a woman to look more beautiful each time I saw her, but Bella did. The moment our eyes met she smiled and I swear she fucking sparkled. Not the lame way I did in the sun but in a way that you could tell she was in love. I was off the couch and scooping her up into a hug in half a second flat. We kissed while trying to ignore the groans from around the room. It was annoying even though I knew they were all fucking with us.

"Shut up assholes."

Bella grinned at me as I pulled her down on my lap into one of the larger recliners. Why had it taken me so freaking long to figure this out? We fit perfectly together; there was no doubt in my mind.

"Bella! You have to open your presents before we start the movies! And we got you a cake."

Sasha was piling the little boxes and bags on the floor in front of us and putting two candles shaped like a one and an eight on a tiny birthday cake. Bella closed her eyes and made a wish before puffing out the candles. I was wondering if her wish had anything to do with me and the way she eyed me afterwards made me think it did. The way we were grinning at each other you'd think we were both on drugs or some shit. It felt so good though; I can't fucking lie about that.

Our intense moment broke off with the jeers from our friends telling Bella to get a move on and open her shit. She leaned over to pick a box out of the pile, rubbing her ass all over my crotch. I shifted her to the left a little but that just gave me a full view of the pink thong peeking out from her pants. Damn, no getting away from that ass. Each time she bent over it got a little harder to handle. I just wanted to pick her up and carry her back to my room for some alone time, if you know what I mean. But it was her birthday and I wasn't even sure if she knew what she was doing to me. Finally, the last freaking bag came up and Bella relaxed back against the arm of the chair to look over her loot.

All the girls were watching me closely. I hadn't wrapped my present and I knew they were all waiting to see what I'd gotten her; freaking vultures man. Bella hadn't said a word though, that was my girl; patient like usual. While she was busy looking through some purse that Heidi had gotten her I reached up and unclasped the necklace around my neck. I'd hidden it there before leaving my room that afternoon. While Bella was talking away I placed it around her neck and re-clasped it.

She reached up to the small smooth stone that now sat in the little dip between her collar bones. It was a twelve point golden star sapphire and when I had seen it in the jeweler's case I knew it was perfect. Bella was the light in my darkness, my star. Ok yeah, I can be a cheesy mother fucker sometimes. While she studied it I suddenly began to feel really uncomfortable sitting there with everyone watching. I should have waited until we were alone to give it to her. The way Victoria was watching us you'd think I'd given her a fucking ring.

"Thank you."

Bella whispered at me with a strange smile. I wasn't sure what to think of it but I was grateful that she hadn't made a big scene about it or anything.

"Right. So which movie do you want to watch B? Chose carefully…"

Felix was holding out the South Park movie and 300. Of course Bella chose 300; what chic wouldn't want to watch a bunch of buff guys running around half naked? Oh well, at least the movie wasn't shitty.

"Ok, I and now you get this."

He held out a bottle of beer towards Bella with a huge shit eating grin. I almost lost it when Bella raised her eyebrow at him like 'Are you fucking kidding me?'

"You expect me to sit here and get drunk all by myself?"

The smile on Felix's face faltered slightly and Bella leaned back against me, apparently thinking she'd ended the conversation or something.

"I'll drink with you!"

He picked up a second bottle and held it out to her again.

"Oh come on B. You gotta get drunk at least once while you're human."

I was joking, thinking that she'd just roll her eyes at me but when everyone else started chiming in she slowly reached out to take the bottle. This was going to be good. Honestly though, I was more interested in seeing stupid ass Felix drink a beer and having to puke that shit up later. He took it like a champ though. With one quick flick of his hand he had to cap off and the entire bottle drained.

"See. It's no big deal."

Bella hesitantly lifted the bottle to her lips and took a tiny sip to test the taste. The grimace on her face must have meant she wasn't going for it.

"This tastes like its gone bad."

Demetri and I were laughing our asses off as Felix searched for an expiration date on the box and Bella began licking at the frosting on her little cake to get the taste out of her mouth. I couldn't remember what beer tasted like so I took a small swig before spitting it out in one of Bella's empty cups. Bella looked at me hopefully but all I could do was shake my head.

"Sorry, I can't tell. Everything other than blood tastes like shit to me."

Once Felix finally convinced her that was how it was supposed to taste he then explained the rules of his game to her.

"Every time someone gets killed you gotta take a drink. Got it?"

He held up his bottle and made mock drinking gestures like Bella was some kind of idiot. He was the real idiot though. I wondered how many of those he was going to drink before he coughed it up.

"Why can't I just drink it when I want to?"

"NO! This way is funner! I read about it online."

We all groaned together. Felix had to be banned from the internet sometimes because that fool believed everything he read. He would spend days on the fucking computer and not even realize it.

"Fine. Let's just watch the movie."

We were all settled in, watching the movie with Felix pointing out when Bella had to take a drink every two seconds it seemed like. I could feel her body getting limper in my lap with each beer. Once the movie was over she was giggling at every little thing and slurring her words slightly.

Sasha was taking the DVD out and asking Bella if she wanted to watch another movie or play a game or something but my girl wasn't paying attention. She was smiling up at me all goofy and shit and running her hands over my chest.

"Is my tongue supposed to feel funny? Because it feels funny."

She was slowly running her tongue across her lips and sucking on it lightly while not even fucking noticing what it was doing to me. The thought of those lips on mine, and that pink little tongue licking places I should even be imagining. Shit. I stood up out of the chair, catching Bella before she tumbled to the ground.

"Want to watch another movie? Let's pick one out."

I was walking over to the media center where all the movies were stacked and trying to hide my raging erection from everyone while Bella whined.

"No. I don't want to watch another movie. Let's do something! Like toilet paper the throne room!"

Of course Felix was the only idiot who thought that was a good idea. Bella might be able to get away with that shit but if any of the rest of us got caught in there it would be our heads on a fucking stick. After we all turned her down Bella when back to pondering what else she wanted to do.

"I feel like dancing! Come on guys! I never get to go out to the clubs with you."

This was something the girls could agree to. And it was true, while the rest of them used their free nights to go out partying sometimes Bella was always stuck in the castle. She lived vicariously through their stories. There was no way in hell I was going to dance, but I'd sure as hell watch.

"Demetri, pick out a good song for us."

Laurent and I shared an amused look. Bella didn't know that despite Demetri's usual calm attitude the guy had a twisted taste in music. Most of his CD collection consisted of shit recorded in the eighties.

"No problem Bella." He leaned over the juke box and scrutinized the song selection like he was picking a fucking race horse to bet on.

When the beat started I almost had to sit down because I was laughing so fucking hard. Bella was watching Demetri do a little hip swaying and swaying a little herself, but not from the music. She turned her eyes on me and raised her eyebrows in disbelief. I don't think she'd expected Demetri to bust out the Michael Jackson when she'd asked for something good to dance to.

"It's just a thriller…."

Demetri had his eyes closed and was rocking out by himself in the corner, apparently not noticing he was the only one dancing. We were all watching in a strange mix of fascination and disgusting. Heidi was actually covering her eyes and shaking her head.

"Enough of this shit."

Jane got up off the floor and put a stop to the fucking lame ass music and picked something more appropriate for Bella's dance party wishes. Or so I thought. I think we were all a little more than fucking surprised when 50 cent started playing, and a little freaked out when she started doing the crypt walk.

"What the hell?"

I couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculousness of the night. Bella drunk, Demetri and Jane's random tastes in music, and now Felix was hurling all the beer he'd downed into a trash can. I wasn't going to let Bella's birthday be ruined by all the weird shit going on. I pulled her close and started dancing with her. At least there was a good beat.

Bella fell into rhythm easily, bouncing up and down while leaning back a little; giving me full access to look down her shirt. Damn. She smiled and closed her eyes, rubbing that hot little body all over me. Why the fuck did she have to be drunk? If Bella had been sober and grinding all over me I would have thrown her over my shoulder and found a nice dark corner to screw her brains out.

Wait. Scratch that. There was no way our first time together would be described as 'screwing'. I was going to make her feel pleasure like she'd never felt before. I'd make sure every inch of her body received the attention it deserved, and not until she'd been to the brink and back multiple times would I let myself finally release. God I wanted her so bad. All that milky smooth skin, and the amazing way she smelled was making it hard for me to concentrate. Really hard.

The song ended and Bella collapsed into a bear hug with the rest of the girls, leaving me standing alone with a raging erection and dirty thoughts about her still running through my mind. To my left Alec was sitting on the couch with his eyes wide and a pillow in his lap. Guess he wasn't used to watching gorgeous woman dance like their trying to fuck the air; something Heidi and Sasha were pros at. I sat down next to him and patted his shoulder.

"Maybe you can convince one of The Brother's to turn some little girl that isn't your sister some day."

He gave me a sad look and shook his head.

"I have to go uh, change. I have guard duty tonight."

Alec got up and left the room with his head hanging and his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah right. He's gonna go guard his cock in the shower."

I laughed at Felix's comment but I really did feel sorry for the little shit.

"So, Bella's all over you man. How you handling that? Isn't it hard to uh… do it with a human?"

"Shit. I duno, we haven't done it yet asshole."

"Oh."

Our conversation was abruptly halted by Bella plopping into my lap and giggling about something Heidi had said to her. I couldn't tell you what though; my Bella was slurring so bad I wasn't even sure she was speaking English.

"Maybe we should call it a night. What do ya think?"

I lifted Bella up into my arms without waiting for her to answer. Not like I'd understand what she said anyway. Her head fell back, exposing her long graceful neck. My mouth was watering, but not for the taste of her blood.

"Night everyone." I called without looking back.

We left the room and the flurry of cat calls behind, just in time it sounded like. Demetri must have been back at the juke box because 'Love in an Elevator' was blaring through the speakers.

"AAwwww… we's leavin' alreadeee?"

I laughed at Bella's barely coherent babble. She was going to hate herself in the morning.

"It's time for you to get some sleep. It will help with your head."

I gave her a kiss on that pretty little head for emphasis.

"What's wrong with my head?"

She lightly rubbed the spot I'd just kissed. I just smiled and shook my head.

"Don't worry about it."

We'd reached her room and I was laying her in bed, all fucking excited for another night of cuddling when she started pouting.

"But I'm not tired!"

Bella crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her chin.

"What are you? Five? Get over it and get some sleep, it's for your own good."

I flopped down beside her and attempted to wrap an arm around her but she wiggled away and turned to face me.

"I can't sleep in this…"

"Ugh, fine…"

I'd expected her to get up and go put on her usual sleepwear but instead she pulled her t-shirt up over her head and flung in across to room like a Frisbee, then arched her back to slip her jeans down her legs. With one small flick of her leg she sent them flying across the room like her shirt. Oh. My. Fucking. God.

Bella was lying next to me with the biggest fucking smirk I'd ever seen wearing nothing but a lacey white bra and see through underwear. God must hate me.

"What are you doing?"

Ok, it's not like I was complaining or anything. Hell, I could look at Bella naked for a couple hundred years and not even blink but her actions were a little out of the ordinary. Had I missed something?

"James, let's make love."

Holy shit.

"Come again?"

"I said I want to have sex James. I would think that as old as you are you'd have heard that one by now."

I had to seriously stop and look around the room for a second. This had to be some kind of joke. Had Felix put her up to this? The way she was looking at me and rubbing on my chest was making it so fucking hard to think straight though. Even if she was being serious there was no way I was going to have sex with her while she was drunk, that's just not right, especially for our first time. But God I wanted to so bad…

"Bella." I shook my head and removed her hand from my chest. "Just go to sleep. We can discuss this tomorrow."

"Come on James." Her bottom lip stuck out in the cutest pout. "Don't you want me?"

Shit. How do I say no to that? Or the hand that was creeping its way down my pants.

"You're drunk; you don't know what you're saying. I promise, tomorrow we will um, discuss things."

My thoughts weren't coming in as rationally as they had been. Instead of the annoying ass voice that kept telling me I couldn't take advantage of my Bella like this there was a voice telling me to rip off what little clothes she had on and fuck her brains out. This new voice was coming from an entirely different part of my body though. I was trying my best to tell the little fucker to be quiet though.

"Just touch me then; please James I want to feel your hands on me."

Oh dear God. I was going to be a very, very bad vampire. I couldn't hold back any more, her skin just felt so good against mine; like fire melting the ice within me. I pulled her into a rough kiss, careful not to bruise anything though. My hands were all over her, she was going to need a new bra because the one she'd been wearing was trashed. I tore it into two pieces and was ogling her perfect little breasts like I'd never seen a pair of tits before.

"More James." She panted breathlessly. "I need more."

Hell, I wasn't about to stop if she was begging for it. As long as I didn't put it in I wasn't an asshole right? And her body was so amazing. I'd been waiting years to get my hands on it and now I had free reign; she didn't disappoint either. Bella's body dipped and curved in all the right places, leading my hands to that hot spot between her legs. The warning voice made a sudden come back and kicked me in the ass. What if Bella woke up tomorrow and hated me for messing with her while she was drunk?

"Just tell me if you want me to stop Bella."

"Trust me that's not going to happen." She slurred.

I thought again about stopping but her hot little hand had now found it's way inside of my jeans and wrapped itself around me. Everything felt so amazing. There was no doubt in my mind that Bella and I were meant to be mates. Never before had someone touch made me feel like I was going to fucking explode. This wasn't about me though; it was still Bella's birthday. I gently pushed her away and rolled her onto her back.

"What are you doing?" Bella was pouting again; she thought I was trying to stop her.

"Just trust me."

The slight sweat that had broke out across her skin made her glisten in the dim lighting and her eyes were barely open; she looked so fucking sexy. I made a line of kisses down her chest, between those perfect breasts and over her smooth stomach. When I reached her underwear Bella was practically panting with anticipation.

"SShh, relax." I whispered against the inside of her thigh. She responded with a whimper.

I slid her underwear down and dropped them off the side of the bed; I'd be keeping those as a memento. Now she lay before me, completely naked and practically fucking quivering; there was no way I could ever look at another woman and be satisfied. I started with one gentle lick and slowly pressed my lips against her. Bella arched her back and moaned quietly. No, that wasn't going to do, I wanted to hear her scream.

My tongue slid inside her and I almost came right then and there. Nothing had ever tasted as good as Bella did. I kept going, keeping a steady rhythm for awhile before sliding in a finger. She instantly tightened around me and I knew she was close. Her hands were tugging on my hair and pressing my face into her, begging for more. Nothing was hotter than demanding Bella. I picked up the pace and concentrated on her swollen nub of nerves. That was all it took.

Bella screamed out my name and cried out in pleasure, soaking the sheets with her orgasm. I greedily licked at the sweet liquid until there was nothing left. This was something I could definitely get used to.

"James, that was…"

Her voice trailed off and she closed her eyes while catching her breath. She looked so beautiful and serene. Knowing that I'd caused that content little smile on her lips made my existence even fucking better. I played with her hair for awhile, just listening to her heart beat while she recovered from the orgasm. Her breathing was slowing in the unmistakable rhythm of sleep though.

What? What?! No. It couldn't be fucking happening.

"Bella? Bella??"

I whispered her name a little louder each time but it was no use. She had passed the fuck out.

"Shit."

My cock was pressing against her leg and with her spread out completely fucking naked like that I wasn't going to make it through the night without turning into a sexual predator. I eased myself off the bed and made my way to the bathroom. What a fucking tease! She'd been all over my junk and then just, just- fell asleep. Damn.

I'd make sure she knew what she missed though. With one hand propped against the wall behind the toilet I replayed every second of what had just happened in my mind while jacking myself off. All I had to do was lick my lips to get her taste in my mouth and that was it. I released all over her fucking toilet with an evil smirk. That was going to be nice to sit in tomorrow morning.

Feeling much calmer and less likely to fucking rape my girl in her sleep I made my way back to bed. I pulled Bella into my arms and kissed her closed eyes.

"Happy birthday Tesoro."

I pulled the sheets up around us and closed my eyes. Maybe I couldn't sleep, but that didn't mean I couldn't dream.

**AN: ~evil laughter~ For all of you who thought that everything was going to be all rainbows and kittens now that James and Bella are finally together you have to remember what kind of relationship they've always had and if you've read To Belong then you know that they're constantly fighting over something. Thank you to my Laura for making me laugh so hard while I was editing this chapter for her. Now please review and tell her how awesome she is for giving us yummy James! ~Manda~**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: I'm so so sorry that this is late guys! I really struggled while writing this chapter; I can't tell you how many times I rewrote it so I hope you guys like it! Also as a little something special you guys get to hear from James a little bit in this chapter! Don't forget to review and let us know if you like it! ~Manda~**

**We don't own Twilight or its characters. **

Chapter 14 BPOV

I groaned and I pulled a pillow over my face to try to block out the blinding sun that was pouring through the window. After a few minutes of blissful darkness I threw the pillow off and made myself sit up. Once I was upright I thought I was going to pass out from the pounding in my head. Slowly opening my eyes I forced myself to focus on the clock.

"What the hell."

It was almost one in the afternoon. I looked around for James but he wasn't in the room and there was no breakfast tray on the bedside table. I cradled my face in my hands and tried to remember what had happened the night before. I could remember opening my gifts then watching the movie; the memory of dancing with James was a little fuzzy although I could remember Demetri's horrible taste in music. It took me a few minutes but the memory of James's head between my thighs brought a huge smile to my face but it quickly faded when I couldn't remember anything after the mind blowing orgasm that he gave me.

I stumbled out of bed and hugged the wall on my way to the bathroom. I cringed at my reflection in the mirror; my eyes were bloodshot and my skin was sickly pale. Keeping a hand on the wall to make sure I didn't fall I shuffled to the toilet and collapsed on the seat only to immediately spring back up screaming at the top of my lungs.

I would kill him and it would be a very slow death. I knew that James had been the only other person in my room because he'd issued a direct order to all the guard members (our friends included) that they were not to enter my room without my express permission. He felt this order was necessary after Felix and Laurent has burst into my room one night while I was changing for bed. And even though my head was pounding and I felt like death I was still able to remember that vampires don't pee so that meant that the cool liquid that I had just sat in was…another bodily fluid.

**JPOV**

A shriek of pure rage resounded across the castle. I cringed and sunk lower into the recliner, Bella must be awake.

"Was that Bella?"

Demetri and Laurent had both jumped at the sound of her cry and Felix had practically blown the door off its hinges when he came running in.

"What happened?"

I waved a hand for them all to calm the fuck down.

"She's fine."

"How do you know that?"

Demetri gave me an angry look and took a step towards the door.

"Ahem. I know… because I left her a little surprise last night, and I'm pretty sure she just found it."

All three of them exchanged looks of confusion.

"What kind of surprise would make her scream like that?"

Crap. Well, at least none of the girls were around.

"Did you guys hear Bella?"

Scratch that. Jane just came waltzing through the door with much less concern than the rest of my buddies. Actually, she didn't seem to give a shit.

"Let's just say I left her a little reminder on her toilet of what she neglected last night when she passed out."

I smiled and leaned my head back against the chair while remembering the night before. Bella probably felt like shit. That did make me feel a little bad but, she definitely deserved it.

"That my friend is pure genius." Felix smirked at me while Jane shook her head.

"Gross."

At that second the door to the game room flew open and Bella stood in the doorway, her eyes wild and out for blood. Good thing I didn't have any.

"Wyman! You are a dead man!"

**BPOV**

I glared at him and tried to put all the fury I was feeling into my gaze.

"Why the fuck would you do that?"

"You started something and you should have finished it! I told you to just go to sleep." He smirked at me seemingly pleased with himself.

"Oh this coming from the guy who said I had to get drunk at least once in my human life; it's your fault that I passed out in the first place! Don't touch me!" I shrieked.

He had come over and tried to put his arm around me but I shoved him away.

"Oh come on. It was just a joke. Come on, I'll tell the chef to make you some breakfast."

He slowly placed his arm over my shoulders but when he gently tried to pull me to his side I leaned away from him.

"That was disgusting James and if you ever do it again I'll…" I thought for a minute smiling sweetly at him. "If you ever do it again I'll sic Jane on you!"

I looked across the room at Jane and saw an evil glint sparkling in her eye. James looked visibly shaken and his hand tightened momentarily on my shoulder before he nodded and darted from the room.

"Nice." Jane cackled.

"Thanks. Ugh I feel like shit and he picks this morning to be a total asshole!" I flopped down in the nearest chair.

Jane shrugged. "He's a guy what do you expect? Besides I can almost guarantee that he'll be back in a few minutes with breakfast for you plus he'll spend the rest of the day trying to make up for his childish behavior."

I eyed her skeptically before looking around the room at the guys who were desperately trying to hide their laughter.

"Jane." I sang and waved my hand around the room indicating toward the guys who all jumped up and ran from the room so fast they were nothing but blurs.

Jane and I laughed as she too left the room. A few minutes later James did indeed come back with a silver tray in hand.

"I'm sorry Tesoro. Will this make it better?" He took the lid off of my tray to reveal the best smelling blueberry pancakes in the world.

Unfortunately my stomach chose that moment to purge itself of whatever was left of my dinner from the night before. I dashed toward the trash can in the corner and thankfully made it. James was instantly at my side holding my hair back for me and rubbing my back.

"Thanks." I whispered as I took the napkin he was offering me.

"Come on; let's get you into a bath." He swept me into his arms but held me slightly away from his body.

Setting me on my feet in my bathroom he kept one hand on me to make sure that I didn't fall over as he started the water in the tub. After checking the temperature to make sure the water wasn't too hot he peeled off the tank top and shorts I'd thrown on before going to find him earlier and helped me step down into the tub.

"No more alcohol?"

"No more alcohol." He agreed; smiling down at me he handed me a glass of water and some aspirin. "Here take these; they'll help with your headache."

--------------------------------------------

I felt a hundred times better by the time I got out of the bathtub; I was even enjoying the little argument James and I were having.

"Bella, I'm the head of the Volturi guard. I do not clean bathrooms." James was staring at me in revulsion.

"I will not have the maids come in here and clean up your disgusting mess. You did it; you can clean it up." I held out the bottle of cleaner and a cloth, the look on my face daring him to argue with me.

He crossed his arms over his chest and stubbornly shook his head at me.

"James, if you don't clean it up then I will be sleeping in that bed **alone** for the next month." I pointed toward my bed for emphasis.

I watched with satisfaction as his shoulders slumped and his head dropped in defeat; he grudgingly took the cleaner and cloth from me and stomped to the bathroom. You would have thought I was torturing him and I honestly think he'd rather me have Jane use her gift on him than to make him clean the toilet. Within minutes he was standing in front of me again.

"There; happy now?"

"Yes, thank you. Maybe you'll remember this next time you want to act like a child." I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek before turning to leave the room.

"Where do you think you're going?" He growled wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling my back flush against his chest.

"We told everyone we would meet them to watch more movies." I reminded him.

He tilted my head to the side so he could kiss my neck.

"I don't think so Tesoro, you still owe me for last night."

"Uuummmm…."

"I spent yesterday evening with your ass grinding all over me then I had to lay in bed with you completely naked and begging me to make love to you." He purred in my ear. "Do you still want that Bella? Do you want me crawl back between your glorious legs and lick that beautiful pussy again?"

My legs had completely lost the ability to hold me up; James's arm tightened around my waist to support my weight as he continued to kiss up and down my neck. My body was screaming at me to tell him yes but my mouth still wouldn't work.

"No? Well I guess we should go meet the others then."

He started to pull away from me but I latched onto the arm that was supporting me and used it to turn myself toward him.

"Yes, I still want it." I finally whispered, unable to look up at him.

I knew this would be different from Chase but I was still a little scared.

James's voice softened. "Bella? Look at me baby." He slipped a finger under my chin and lifted my head until I met his eyes. "I was only teasing; I thought this was what you wanted."

"I'm just a little scared James. The last time I tried this it didn't work out so well for me."

The look of pure rage that fleetingly crossed his face should have frightened me but I knew that it wasn't directed at me.

"I should have made him suffer more." He swore barely loud enough for me to hear.

His hand swept my hair out of my face then cupped my cheek as he brought his lips down to mine softly. "Bella, I'm so sorry that your last experience wasn't a good one. Please let me show what it's supposed to be like."

I nodded, never breaking eye contact. He gently nudged me back towards the bed as he kissed me again. I was so caught up in the kiss that when the back of my legs hit the bed I lost my balance and fell backwards. I giggled as I bounced slightly on the mattress; James smiled as he crawled toward me. I squealed when he started tickling me and tried to roll away from him.

"Where do you think you're going? You can't keep trying to get away from me Bella." He sang.

He grabbed my legs and pulled me back to him then straddled my body so I couldn't escape again. I knew that tickling him back wouldn't achieve anything so I leaned up and kissed him instead. Suddenly his hands went from tickling to caressing and slowly eased under my shirt. My skin tingled with the memory of the night before but Chase's face floated to the front of my mind. Fear momentarily coursed through my body but I pushed it away. This was different and damnit I was tired of that asshole ruining this for me even from beyond the grave. I forced my fear to the back of my mind and pulled impatiently at James's shirt, wanting it off.

Ripping my mouth away from James's so I could breath. "Off. Now." I panted.

"Patience young Jedi…" he pulled his shirt over his head. "I want to enjoy every second of this. I've been waiting for a long time."

As he was pulling his shirt over his head I was tugging at his belt but stopped and looked up at him in disbelief.

"You did not just quote Star Wars to me. Oh my god maybe I should just let you get back to Alec and your scary obsession with Luke." I cackled.

"No, no I'm staying right here. Besides, Princess Bella is way hotter than Princess Leia."

I arched an eyebrow at him and tried to contain my laughter. He seemed not to notice since he went back to raising my shirt. I leaned up to let him slip it off and started trying to unbuckle his belt and pants again. I smiled triumphantly when I succeeded. James was staring down at me intently; I let my gaze drift over his upper body. My fingers lightly traced the muscles of his chest and stomach.

"See something you like?" He whispered huskily in my ear.

I shivered as his cool breath washed over my neck.

"Why don't you lose the pants and I'll let you know." I whispered back in what I hoped was an equally seductive voice.

He smirked at me as he stood up. "You first."

Without hesitation I unbuttoned my jeans and arched my back so I could shimmy them down. Once I kicked them off I brought my hands back up to rest on the waist of my thong. After staring for a moment he seemed to comprehend that I was waiting for him to take off his pants. He quickly stripped them off leaving him standing at the foot of my bed in a pair of dark grey boxer briefs that should have been illegal. He turned slightly to the side to toss his jeans onto the couch giving me a wonderful side view of his sculpted ass and his raging erection.

The lust that overtook my body completely erased any fear that might have been lingering. I had never seen a man, in real life or in pictures that could compare to James. His body was lean but all muscle; muscles that rippled in the most…erotic ways every time he moved. It was my turn to stare until he unnecessarily cleared his throat to let me know that he was waiting. I scooted up until I was on my knees and reached behind me to unlatch my bra; letting the straps fall down my shoulders but holding it in place over my chest. I gave him my most devilish smile and turned my back to him. I pulled off my bra and tossed it behind me then I slipped my thumbs under the sides of my thong and looked over my shoulder at him.

James's mouth was hanging open; his eyes fixed on my butt. I giggled and shook my hips. My laughter snapped him out of his daze and his eyes darted up to meet mine for a second before lowering again to watch the thong progress down my thighs. He started toward the bed again but I stopped him.

"Nuh uh; your turn."

Apparently he was done with the strip tease because he ripped off his boxers and was kneeling in front of me before I could blink.

"What happened to patience?" I asked breathlessly as I took in his completely nude form for the first of what I hoped would be many times.

"Patience is overrated." He mumbled as his hands ghosted up my sides, around to my back and then steadily made their way downward. "Very overrated." He hissed when my hand brushed lightly over his hip.

"Let me make up for passing out last night."

I placed my hands firmly on his shoulders and pushed making him fall back and causing me to fall on top of him since his hands were still attached to my ass. I reached behind myself and pried his hands loose laughing the entire time.

"Come on now, I can't repay you if you won't let go of me."

He relented but he didn't look happy about it until I started kissing his lower stomach.

JPOV

_Her mouth…fuck; her mouth was so close to where I wanted it to be. The heat of her breath was driving me insane as she kissed down my stomach agonizingly slowly. I wanted to wrap her hair around my hands and shove her head down but I controlled myself. I wouldn't be like Chase and just take what I wanted no matter how much she tortured me. Just to prove to myself that I would be good I placed my right hand on top of her head and stroked her hair back from her face. She looked up at me through her eyelashes and my dick twitched. Fuck maybe that was a bad idea. As if she could read my mind she kept her eyes trained on mine as she hesitantly reached up and laced her fingers with the ones on top of her head and then squeezed our hands into a fist. _

"_Show me James." _

_Her voice was soft but she wasn't asking she was telling me what she wanted and who was I to deny her? I gently guided her mouth closer to my waiting cock. My eyes rolled back in my head when she wrapped her lips around me. _

BPOV

I was terrified beyond belief. I had no clue what I was doing; hell, I didn't even have conversations with the girls to look back on since we'd never discussed anything like this. I went with instinct and kept my eyes trained on James's face. So far he seemed to be enjoying himself and my confidence grew with every moan that escaped his lips.

Deciding to just be brave and get it over with I took him completely into my mouth and almost gagged. James's grip on my hair tightened and his hips bucked up off the bed.

"Oh god Bella." He groaned, finally opening his eyes to look down at me. "You could warn a guy before you do something like that."

I giggled around the large obstruction in my mouth which only made him moan again. His other hand came up to fist more of my hair as he started guiding my head up and down. I was trying to figure out why some women found this so enjoyable and I wasn't coming up with anything until James's breathing changed and his entire body stiffened. I was making him feel this. I was giving him this pleasure and I would do it again just to see that look on his face.

"Bella….baby you…have…stop."

He pulled my head up and I frowned at him. Instead of saying anything he took my hand, placing it where my mouth had just been he resumed guiding me at the same pace as before. I bit my lip and moaned right along with him wanting nothing more than to wrap my lips back around him and taste him as he came.

I settled for watching his face. His brows were knit together, his lips pressed into a line and his nose was slightly scrunched up almost as if he was in pain but he was stunning when his entire face relaxed and he yelled my name. I smirked and mentally congratulated myself. He pulled me up to him and sank back onto the pillows. We lay together for a few minutes with him softly rubbing my back and me lightly tracing the lines of his face.

I pouted when he stood up and started toward the bathroom. He caught the look on my face from the corner of his eye and chuckled.

"I'll be right back Tesoro; I'm just going to clean up."

Pulling the sheet up to my chest I sighed and laid back to stare at the ceiling. I searched for the fear and uncertainty that I'd felt earlier but I couldn't find it. I smiled as I watched James through the bathroom doorway, he had his back to me but I wasn't going to complain about the view. James was quickly laying next to me again, tracing patterns on my hip and up my stomach.

"You know, you never really answered my question earlier."

"Mmm what question?"

His tongue darted out to lick a path up the side of my neck.

"Whether or not you want me to crawl back between your legs and spend the rest of the day there."

"Oh that question. No I don't think I do." I watched in amusement as his face portrayed his disappointment. "Not that I didn't enjoy it last night and I hope to enjoy it again soon but…I want another part of your body between my-"

He cut me off by attacking my lips and crawling over top of me. I spread my legs and he settled between them. Still kissing me he lifted my legs to wrap around his waist and entered me with the same movement. He hadn't even moved yet and I already knew that this would be thousands of times better than it had been with Chase.

James buried his face in my neck and inhaled deeply. After holding completely still for what felt like an eternity he finally raised his head and looked down into my eyes.

"Are you ready?"

I nodded and secured my fingers in his hair to bring his mouth back down to mine as he started slowly moving in and out of me. Dear lord he could stop right now and it still would have been the best experience of my life. But James would never do that; I had a feeling that we wouldn't be leaving my bed any time soon and that I hadn't begun to feel even a small amount of the pleasure that this man would give me before he was done. When his mouth made his way down my body and latched onto one of my nipples I knew I was right. I moaned at the sensation and lifted my hips so he could go deeper.

"Bella…you have to be still baby."

"What?" I panted.

James stopped all movement and looked down at me again.

"You have no idea how hard it is for me to control myself, please just stay still this time; just until I can get used to what it feels like to be inside of you." He grinned devilishly at me.

I nodded and stopped moving my hips. James's mouth and hands went back to roaming my body as he slowly moved in and out of me; it took all of my self control not to lift my hips to make him go faster. Suddenly James rolled us over so I was on top of him; I looked at him in confusion for a moment until he placed his hands on my hips and lifted me slightly before lowering me back down. I could feel my face flush with embarrassment when a loud moan escaped my mouth and I tried to hide behind my hair.

"Don't be like that Bella those sounds mean that I'm doing my job. Besides you have a beautiful voice." His hand came up to cup my cheek as I lifted up again and slammed myself back down on him.

This time it was him that moaned loudly, making me smile, I realized why he didn't want me to feel embarrassed. I felt powerful and elated that** I** could make **him** feel so much pleasure. With my hands braced on his chest I began to quickly raise my hips and roughly bring them back down. I was beyond being embarrassed of the sounds that were escaping me, I wasn't even sure if I was making sounds anymore. James's hands roamed my body freely, up my back, down my sides then up my stomach to cup my breasts. He lifted his head and sucked my right nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it; at the same time he lowered his right hand down to where our bodies were joined and rubbed my clit at the same pace his tongue had set. There was no build up to the mind blowing orgasm that rocked through my body; it was instantaneous and so powerful that I was pretty sure that I broke some of the windows with the scream that ripped from my lungs.

I collapsed on top of James but he didn't stop he simply moved his hands back down to my hips and kept lifting and lowering my body. I lost count of the number of orgasms that he gave me before he finally gave into his own pleasure and bringing to the brink of insanity one last time he came with me.

I couldn't have moved if the bed had caught on fire but luckily vampires have a quick recovery time and James got me into the shower where he washed me from head to toe then he dressed me in my pajamas before putting my back in bed and wrapping himself around me. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so safe.

As I drifted off to sleep James whispered in my ear.

"I love you Bella."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry about the wait for updates lately. Summer has me and Manda Panda busy but we promise to do our best to be fast with the chapters lol. Hope you enjoy a little bit of insecure James XD He's so sexy when he's scared. Thanks for all the great reviews by the way!! -Laura (sleepyseven)**

I gently pushed against the floor with my right foot so that the chair I was sitting in was balanced on only it's back two legs. After holding that position for a second or so to steady myself I shifted my weight to the right and slowly tilted the chair onto just the back right leg. With my hands out I balanced carefully like the expert chair balancer I was. Damn, I am the shit. If any of The Brother's caught me using one of their ancient wing backed library chairs like this they'd castrate me. That thought made my smile a little bigger. Fuck them.

Lately I'd been being extra careless with their precious shit since they didn't seem to care too much for the safety of the most important thing in my life. Speaking of which, I could hear Bella tip-toeing down the hallway towards the door. My smile faded and I quietly dropped all four legs of the chair back to the floor to wait for her. Disappointment and relief were flooding my thoughts together, making my fucking head swim.

She held her breath and opened the door as quietly as possible, for a human; but that didn't matter in a castle full of vampires. To us she was still loud as hell, and holding her breath wasn't hiding anything. I waited silently with my hands pressed together in prayer position in front of my face for her to approach the chair. Why did she have to be so easy to read? I listened to her little steps, counting down how many it would be until she came around to the front of the chair.

Finally, there she was. I could see her reflection in the dark marble of the massive fireplace mantle in front of me. She was watching her back, with a look of uncertainty; she was starting to lose her confidence. I sighed and shook my head when she bumped into the chair and gave a squeak of surprise when she saw me.

"God dammit Bella. What the fuck are you doing?"

Her face immediately went into defense mode and I regretted my words immediately. Well, maybe not. Make up sex was always good; I might as well go with this.

"Don't you talk to me like that James Wyman. I am trying my hardest!"

I stood to face her and instead of keeping my eyes locked on hers I let them roam her body, tracing the familiar lines of her skin straight to her boobs. I loved them.

"If you're trying so hard then why haven't you been able to fool me once? Not even once Bella!"

She crossed her arms over her chest, squishing her boobs together and making my concentration falter even more. Pay attention Wyman! The fight… I have a point here.

"I did everything I was supposed to! I changed my mind every two seconds, and then I changed it again! I didn't follow my instincts at all; I just went where ever my feet carried me. What else do you want from me?"

Shit. Tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes and her bottom lip did that little quivering thing that made my heart break. Forget make up sex, I never got it when I made her cry. Dammit. I pulled her into a hug and sat back down in the chair.

"I'm sorry. Don't cry. Please don't cry."

Honestly, I'd rather be stabbed in the eye with a splintered two by four than watch Bella cry. I hated that shit.

"I'm sorry, I really am trying. I don't know what else to do!"

She hiccupped a little between each word but brought her breathing back to normal quickly. Thank God.

"It's alright. I know your trying. Maybe we should take a break for a few days."

We sat in silence while thinking that over. It had been over two months since we'd started Bella's training for her trip to the states and the stress was starting to get to all of us. She had to be taught techniques to help her remember things since she didn't have the vampire power of recalling every single thing we do or see. The only way we could train her to avoid Alice Cullen's power of foresight was to set up different scenarios throughout the castle, sort of like an obstacle course where she had to make decisions on which way to go and since I knew her the best I had to guess where she'd end up. So far I'd guessed right every time, Bella is just too easy to read.

"Common', I'll get the chef to make you something with chocolate ok?"

She smiled up at me and I knew I'd recovered; chocolate made everything better. I cradled her in my arms and headed for the game room where we were supposed to meet everyone. When we came through the door everyone's face fell into that defeated frown that came with failure. I had to remind myself that it wasn't just Bella and I who were spending all our time preparing her to leave. I hugged her a little tighter and offered a joking smile.

"Don't look so fucking down, I brought a snack!"

I lifted Bella like an offering and laughed at her giggles. The tension in the room instantly dissolved and everyone went back to their conversations; though I did notice Heidi giving Bella a reassuring hug after I'd put her down.

After I sent a guard to the chef to have some dessert made for Bella I settled into the couch beside Alec and Felix. They were watching Faces of Death, again.

"Don't you two get tired of this shit? It's so fake."

Alec looked at me and gave a rare smile.

"No way, have you seen the part where they kill the monkey. That is so real. Humans are freaking weird man."

"Whatever just turn it off already. You know Bella doesn't like to see that crap."

Felix stopped the DVD player and turned the TV to some random music station before getting into a heated debate with Laurent about the homo factor of wearing a scarf and a sweater. Laurent thought he looked like he just stepped off the cover of a GQ magazine, Felix thought he looked like a douche.

I glanced back at Alec who was deep in thought.

"What's your problem?"

I nudged him with my elbow, breaking him out of his weird trance.

"I was just thinking about what you said. Why doesn't Bella like watching violent movies? They are fake."

Shit. How do you explain human emotion to a kid who has forgotten what empathy is? I ran a hand through my hair and closed my eyes. Why hadn't I just ignored the little bastard? Bella was always on me about being nicer to the Torture Twins and this is what I get for trying.

"Well, uh, remember when Bella first came to the castle?" He nodded so I kept going. "And she was in the feeding room watching all those other tourists die before Aro got to her?" He nodded again but it obviously wasn't sinking in. I was going to have to spell it out for him.

"Bella was really young when that happened, and even most adult humans don't see much carnage like that. The whole trauma of that shit just made her really sensitive to violence."

Alec didn't say anything but went back to thinking about what I'd said. This time I wasn't about to interrupt him, and just when I thought the subject had been dropped he spoke up.

"Bella is leaving to spy on that coven of vampires as a test for The Brother's right? Before they'll turn her into a vampire."

"Yeah, basically. I mean, they want to gather information on the Cullens and test Bella's power at the same time so…" I pressed my lips together and made a face, this was a sore subject for me.

"How is Bella going to be a vampire if she can't even watch a movie with people being killed in it?" Hmm, good question.

"Don't you remember what it was like as a newborn?"

"No."

Of course not, because that would make this whole conversation too easy.

"I'm pretty sure the thirst will force Bella to just do what she has to do you know?"

I shrugged, I hadn't really thought about it.

"What if Bella decides she wants to go be with those vampire's who don't eat humans?"

What the fuck. Why hadn't I thought about this before? It definitely sounded like something Bella would do. I know she already has issues with having to murder people for survival after becoming a vampire. If she had an option not to, would she take it? This fucking trip was just getting worse and worse.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

That seemed to satisfy Alec. He nodded and stood to leave, he had guard duty that night. I was happy to be rid of the kid; I hated explaining stuff I wasn't even sure about.

"He had some good points."

Demetri took up Alec's spot on the couch and I gave him a dirty look. I was sick of the subject.

"Yeah, whatever."

He studied me for a moment before lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper.

"There's something I need to tell you."

I followed his example and raised my eyebrows without looking at him so that no one would be drawn to our conversation.

"What is it?"

"Cassandra has been released from the dungeon."

I couldn't fucking keep my cool after that.

"What? When?"

He glanced around the room to make sure no one had noticed my outburst before continuing. I guess I should have been more careful. Not everyone in the room was part of the head guard and Cassandra still had some loyal friends. In fact, she'd gained a group of supporters simply for what had happened. Betraying a fellow vamp was taboo in our world and Felix and I had made enemies that day for what we'd done. Most of her supporters were vamps that weren't happy about the castle's human pet anyway, and this was just another excuse to hate Bella. Not like it was her fault anyway.

I watched Bella talking with Victoria and Jane at one of the tall tables in the corner. Her feet were swinging back and forth beneath the bar stool and she was laughing at something Jane had said. She had no clue that a blood thirsty monster who hated her very being was wandering the castle again. I had never fully explained to her what happened with Cassandra.

"I don't know the details but when I was on duty with Caius last night she was there with Marcus. She didn't seem right either."

I snorted and gave him a sideways look.

"Not like she was ever right in the head to begin with. And spending a year and a half in the dungeon with no limbs will make anyone go a little crazy. Cassandra isn't that old either, time doesn't pass as fast for her as it does for the rest of us."

He bowed his head and closed his eyes.

"This is bad for Bella."

"Fuck yeah it is."

I clinched my hands together into fists and stood up.

"I'll talk to her tonight. Why don't you let everyone else know so they can keep an eye out?"

"Alright."

Bella was still talking with the girls when I walked up behind her, something about Coochie purses and some guy named Louis, obviously nothing important.

"Can I borrow Bella for awhile?"

I bent down to kiss her neck while looking at the girls to make sure they knew it was an order, not a request; I just didn't want Bella to know that. They all walked away looking slightly perturbed but I didn't give a shit.

"Did you get your chocolate?" I smiled down at her while brushing away a few wild strands of hair.

"Yes, it was delicious. Thank you." She leaned in and gave me a peck on the lips with her hands pressed to my chest; they were as warm as ever. What would I do without her?

I could feel the weight of everything that had just happened weighing down on me. My conversation with Alec had only brought on new fears about Bella leaving the castle to go to Forks, and Demetri's news about Cassandra was like a dark cloud hovering over us.

"Aren't you getting tired? It's pretty late."

I was anxious to get Bella back to the safety of her room where I could spend the next few hours holding her tightly in my arms. At least there I knew no one could take her from me. Bella laid her head on my shoulder and took a long, deep breath.

"Yeah, I guess I am pretty sleepy. I hadn't even noticed the time."

She slipped her hand into mine and tugged me towards the door with her.

"Good night everyone!"

We both waved to everyone before leaving the room and they all waved back, Demetri and Felix giving us weary looks. I nodded in acknowledgement; this was going to be a bumpy road.

Once we were in Bella's bed and she was fast asleep I had time to think everything over. The most important issue was Cassandra. There was no way in hell that bitch was coming near my girl. I hadn't had the balls to say anything to Bella before she'd fallen asleep either. I decided it would be best to keep her in the dark for as long as possible. She had enough to think about with her trip coming up.

Fuck. What was I going to do about that? I still had my worries about mine and Bella's future together and it seemed like it was getting shakier and shakier every freaking day. Don't get me wrong, I was one hundred percent sure that she was my mate; I just wasn't sure if she felt the same way.

For a mortal eternity isn't something they can truly grasp. Hell, I didn't even have a full understanding of it, but it didn't scare me. Spending forever with Bella was my idea of heaven. She on the other hand was brand new to this world and at eighteen hadn't seen much. I've been with plenty of women and know what I'm giving up; she has only ever been with me and Chase. What if she gets out there to fucking Forks, Washington and falls in love with someone else? Without Bella my existence is meaningless. It had become painfully clear to me that my very being had been meant for Bella all along. My time before her hadn't really been living, it had just been waiting and I hadn't even known it.

I spent the better part of the ten hours that Bella slept worrying about that shit. When her big brown eyes fluttered open in the morning I instantly pulled her into a deep kiss, needing to feel her warmth all over me.

"Woah, hey now! Morning breath." She leaned back and placed a hand over her lips while scolding me.

I knew she hated it when I tried to kiss her before her morning hygiene routine, but I didn't give a crap about that. She could go a month without showering or brushing her teeth and it wouldn't bother me… that much.

She slid out of bed and groggily stumbled to the bathroom to do whatever the hell it is she does in there while I remained on the bed. Would it be possible to just spend forever right there? It sounded pretty fucking good to me. A knock on the door reminded me that no one in the castle would allow something like that to happen, they all sucked.

"What?" I yelled at the closed door, not inviting anyone to fucking enter. Demetri opened the door and came in anyway.

"So how's Bella?"

I raised an eyebrow at his question before rubbing my face vigorously as if I'd been the one sleeping all night.

"She's great. She's in the bathroom."

He didn't like my avoiding his question. I sighed and got off the bed, sad to be leaving the one place where Bella and I always got to be alone.

"I haven't told her yet."

"What? Why not?"

Demetri crossed his arms and waited for me to fucking explain myself. That ass wipe never could just let shit go.

"I don't want her to worry. She doesn't even know where Cassandra has been this whole time. I just want her to have a guard at all times. We will keep her shielded for as long as possible. Hopefully we can hide Cassandra from her until she has to leave."

He gave me a skeptical look but didn't argue. Good. I wasn't in the mood.

"Ok then. I'll give everyone the order."

He left just as Bella was coming back out of the bathroom.

"Who was that?"

"Huh? Oh, it was Demetri. He had a question about his car."

Bella gave me a funny look but didn't call me out on my lie. Now that she'd freshened up I was free to take as many fucking kisses as I wanted. I pulled her back to the bed and began kissing every bit of exposed skin on her body, making her giggle until they turned into real laughs and a few snorts.

"Ok. OK! That tickles!" She screeched between laughs.

"Then maybe you shouldn't show so much skin."

She made a big show out of examining her t-shirt and jeans before giving me the "are you fucking kidding me?" look. I'm her boyfriend; I had to give her a hard time. Honestly though, I'd be happier if she'd wear a turtle neck and parka everywhere and it wasn't because I was worried about the guys checking her out. I know my girl is hot, and I'm proud of that. But showing off skin meant a whole different thing to vampires.

"So what do we get to do today since we're not training?"

Her eyes were sparkly and excited like some kid getting ready for a birthday party. I really had been working her too hard.

"Well, you want to get out of the castle for awhile?"

"Seriously?"

Bella was practically fucking bouncing on the bed.

"Yes seriously. We can head out to the country side; have a fucking picnic or something. You can have sandwich and I'll have you."

I growled at her and pinned her to the bed.

"Mmm… my favorite breakfast. Human a-la-Bella."

"Just us? You better not be messing with me."

She was pushing against my chest even though she had no chance in hell of moving me. I would play along with her though, like always. With a grunt I fell onto the bed next to her and propped myself up on one elbow.

"I'm not messing with you! We'll get out of here. I'll put on a light show for you, it will be great."

Bella squealed and jumped off the bed to grab her shit and I headed for the door to get the chef to pack her a lunch.

"I'll meet you in the kitchen!" I yelled at her back while she rummaged through her closet. All I got back was a muffled "Uh huh."

Jane was waiting for me outside her door.

"Smooth. Getting her out of the castle isn't obvious or anything. I thought we were supposed to be hiding the fact that something was going on."

Dammit. Why did her and her brother have to be so, honest?

"Whatever. She needs a day off anyway. Just escort her to the kitchen when she comes out."

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her.

"These little diversions won't work for long. Bella's not stupid. You should just tell her the truth."

Jane gave me a dirty look when I smiled and saluted but didn't agree. I knew my Bella better than her and the longer she didn't know about Cassandra the better. At least I thought so.

We drove a couple hours out of the city to the forest. I carried her on my back into the trees for awhile, just trying to put distance between us and the castle. It was a good day. We got to talk about shit other than her leaving, or anything castle related. No Aro, or Forks, or psycho vampire bitches trying to kill her. It felt really fucking good.

I convinced her that we were far enough away from anyone that we could have sex and mess around without being caught; I felt pretty fucking smooth for pulling that off. How could I resist her in the tiny blue thing she called a dress. It looked more like a nightie to me anyway. I started at her ankles and trailed my hands up her legs. Every time my hand would skim through a patch of sunlight sneaking through the leaves Bella would give a soft "oh" from the sparkles. I have to admit, that shit is good for one thing. The girls love it.

Bella had no idea just how luminescent her own skin was out in the natural light. I could see the feint blue veins just beneath her delicate pale skin, and the blood running through them no longer held the power over me that it used to. Of course I could still smell its delicious scent, but I'd rather make love to Bella instead of eat her. This is what forever would be like with my Bella. No stress, no drama, just us.

I smiled wickedly when I reached her hips, pushing her dress up to reveal the lacy white thong beneath. God I love this woman. I started by placing tiny kisses all over her legs and stomach, then I hooked my fingers around the sides of her panties and tugged them off, revealing exactly what I wanted. All that gorgeous pink flesh, I had to have it.

I kissed her softly once before running my tongue along her slit and gently pushing it inside of her. She moaned softly and arched her back, letting the straps of her dress fall off her shoulders. There was no way I could hold back. With a few quick movements I was inside her and fucking moaning too. If I had, had any idea of what I'd been missing all those years before Bella had come along I don't think I would have survived. Ignorance is definitely bliss.

Afterwards we were lying on the forest floor cuddling, like some lame picture from the cover of a romance novel. Bella's hair was a mess of waves all over her shoulders and even had a little bit of grass in it. I still hadn't put my shirt on and she was drawing little pictures across my chest and stomach. Lame or not it was perfect.

For a second I thought about what it would be like if we just ran away. I could turn Bella and we could live traveling the world without any worries. She wouldn't be happy with that though. The vampires back in the castle had become her family, and she'd already had to give up one. I know she never really got over having to leave her mom; I couldn't make her do that again.

The sun was going down and the temperature was dropping. Bella she was getting cold fast, I could tell by the change in her skin color and the patches of goose bumps starting on her arms. Our day alone was over, and it hadn't lasted long enough in my opinion. We gathered our shit and I carried her back to the car, wishing again that we could just go away together.

There weren't any days as good as that one in the weeks to come. After a few days off from her training we had to get back to it and things seemed to be going back to normal. Jane had been right though. Bella isn't stupid and she began to get suspicious of everyone following her around like a toddler. I was going to have to tell her soon. Seriously though, I was pretty fucking amazed we'd made it as long as we had without Crazy Cassandra poking her psychopathic nose into what we were doing. Maybe she'd learned her lesson while down in the dungeon and was going to leave us alone. Yeah right.

It was exactly one month after Demetri had told me about her coming back that Bella finally got a glimpse. We were discussing the parameters of her next course when Cassandra came into courtyard with Marcus.

"My dear Isabella. Aren't the working you rather hard?"

Marcus was waiting for Bella to answer, but her eyes were fixed on Cassandra.

"N-n-o. It's fine. I really need to be prepared for my trip. It's coming soon."

"That's right. Just a few more months. I have no doubt that you'll do just fine though."

She nodded and took a step back for him and his guards to pass. Cassandra was a few feet behind him and I was hoping she'd just keep walking without an incident but no, of course that would be too fucking easy. When she reached the point where Bella was standing she lowered her head slightly and hissed, wrinkling her face like she had just caught a whiff of something bad.

" Oh, won't the castle be a sad, sad place without its little human."

Cassandra made an exaggerated pout and rolled her eyes but kept walking.

Once they were out of sight it felt like everyone let their breath out at once. Bella was still staring after them with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. I wasn't sure what to say to her. I didn't get a chance to figure it out either. She turned towards me with her hands on her hips and fucking fire in her eyes.

"What the fuck was that?"

Damn, time for the truth.

"Why don't we stop the training for today?"

Everyone else nodded and scattered like fucking rats, except for Jane. She gave me a smug little smirk before skipping down the path towards the stables.

"Ok, let's sit down and I'll explain what happened."

We found a bench in the corner of the garden near the wall and I thought about how to sum things up.

"NO. I know that look on your face James. No lying, tell me everything and tell me the truth."

Shit. My Bella knew me way to well.

"Alright, well…"

**AN: Sorry our update schedule has been screwed up lately! I can't promise that I'll have the next chapter up by Monday but I'll try my best! Don't forget to review and tell Laura how much you love insecure James YUMM!! ~Manda (quickbunny)~**


	16. Chapter 16

_AN: Sorry it's late again! Laura and I are struggling with these last few chapters; we think it's because we're sad that the story is ending :( I hope you like it, I put a lot of hard work into it! Don't forget to review! ~Manda~_

**Chapter 16**

"Please Bella?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. It had been two weeks since I'd found out about Cassandra and I was reaching the end of my rope. Two weeks of torture. I'd withheld sex and all forms of affection except for a goodnight kiss before I went to bed and I didn't know how much longer I could hold out. I was seriously questioning my method of payback as James stared up at me with the sweetest tortured expression on his face.

He had burst into my room half an hour ago, fallen to his knees in front of me and started begging me to forgive him for not telling me Cassandra had been released. I was so furious at him when we saw Cassandra with Marcus that day while I was training; after he finished explaining to me exactly what he and Felix had done to her and were she'd been for over a year I had slapped him, almost breaking my hand again and then refused to talk to him. For the rest of the day I'd hid in my room terrified of what Cassandra was going to do to me but by the next day I was tired of being scared and hiding so I went about my normal routine. As soon as I'd stepped into the hallway I knew I was in trouble. Cassandra was leaning against the opposite wall smiling at me. She had me backed into a corner and was getting ready to hit me when Laurent had shown up and scared her away. Since then there had been too many close calls to count. She seemed to be waiting everywhere I went, luckily one of my friends was always close by so she hadn't been able to do anything to me…yet.

I ran my hand through James's hair and sank to my knees in front of him.

"Promise me that you won't keep things from me anymore."

His eyes lit up as he grinned at me.

"I swear; I'll never do it again."

I eyed him skeptically for a minute before nodding. He laughed and swept me up into his arms, burying his nose in my hair.

"I've missed you so much Bella."

I giggled. "James, you've seen me everyday how could you miss me?"

"You know what I mean. I haven't been allowed to touch you for two weeks and I've been slowly going insane."

"Well it's your own fau-"

He cut me off by pulling me into a searing kiss that left me completely breathless and unable to think. While I was in my delirious state he moved us to the bed and had most of my clothes off when I shook the fog from my brain.

"James, not now; I was supposed to start training 2 hours ago!"

"Yes and I'm in charge of your training and I say that you don't have to do it today." He said as he swatted my hands away from my belt and pulled my jeans off.

I took a second to do a mental happy dance that I didn't have to suffer through training but James brought my attention back to what he was doing when he started kissing the inside of my right thigh. I let out a blissful sigh and pulled his head up so I could kiss him again. I frantically pulled at his shirt as James ripped off his pants. I could feel myself dripping onto the sheets just thinking about him being inside of me again so when he pushed two fingers into me to make sure I was ready for him I almost came right then. James moaned and threw himself on top of me.

"I'm sorry Bella but I won't last long."

I writhed beneath him trying to relieve the throbbing between my legs. "Please!"

He gripped my thighs around his waist and lifting my hips he pushed into me. We both moaned loudly knowing that anyone within two floors of my room could hear us and not caring in the least. We held nothing back, letting go of all the emotions we'd bottled up over the past few weeks. I released all the anger I had felt toward him by biting his neck and raking my nails down his back; he let out his frustration at me by pounding into me hard and fast, his left hand made a continuous circuit from my neck across my breast and down to my hip while he balanced himself on his right as he moved in and out of me.

James was right; neither one of us lasted long. After screaming his name at the top of my lungs and collapsing back onto the bed I heard applause and catcalls coming from the hallway. I moaned in embarrassment and hid my face in James neck.

"It's about time you let him off the hook Bella!" Felix shouted over the noise the others were making.

"Please tell me that you didn't know they were out there." I peeked at him from between my fingers.

He smirked down at me but didn't say anything. I knew that he had known and that he'd done everything he could to make me scream as loud as I could…not that I was going to complain about that part of it but I was a little miffed that he hadn't told me we had an audience.

His smug look softened as he read the annoyance on my face. Kissing me softly he stood up and pulled on his jeans. I pouted when he started toward the door causing him to come back over and kiss me again.

"I'm just going to get rid of the idiots and I'll be right back I promise."

"Fine but hurry I want to take a nap."

He nodded at me as he slipped out the door. I wanted to be pissed at him for his latest little stunt but I couldn't find it within myself to be mad at him; makeup sex is the best after all.

I was trying to figure out how I was going to sleep while I was in Forks. It had been over a year since I'd slept without James next to me. I had a feeling that I was going to be very tired by the time I got back to the castle. I hadn't come up with a solution by the time James joined me in the bed again so I pushed it from my mind for now and let him hum me to sleep.

-----------------------------------

"Dammit Bella!" Demetri shouted.

I'd lost count of the number of times I'd heard that exclamation over the past three months.

"I'm trying! I swear I'm trying Demetri but what do you expect when you crush my iPod right in front of me!"

The training wasn't exactly going well. The guards were taking turns trying to make me feel certain emotions. Demetri had done well at making me feel anger when he'd broken my iPod but I'd failed since I couldn't control my reaction and choose to feel something besides anger at him. Felix had immediately started trying to make me laugh by crawling around on the floor and barking like a dog but I was still too pissed about the 3,000 songs I was going to have to download onto a new mp3 player to find it as humorous as everyone else seemed to.

The point of this particular training session was to help me learn to block Jasper Whitlock Hale's empathic abilities. I usually did pretty well at this exercise but I still couldn't throw off anger. I had already mastered all of the other training courses that had been set up for me. Blocking Alice's power was the hardest to learn and since we couldn't be sure that what I had been taught would even work all we could do was cross our fingers and hope.

James just shook his head in disappointment and tried not to look disapprovingly at me. He'd really been trying not to be so hard on me when it came to my training. I only had two weeks left before I had to leave for Forks and my nerves were getting to me. I was failing at the simple training courses that I'd mastered months ago because I was so nervous all of the time.

James clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "That's enough for today guys. Let's not push her too hard."

Demetri smiled and came over to me with the broken iPod. "I'm not that mean Bells."

He pulled my iPod out of his pocket and showed me that it was unharmed and completely intact; he must have bought one like mine just so he could break it and piss me off. I hugged him and headed toward my room. James stopped me before I got to the top of the first staircase.

"I have to meet Aro in his study to give him your progress report but I need you to meet me at the top of the north tower in fifteen minutes okay?"

"Why?" I asked, confused.

No one had used the North Tower for anything for years; why could he possibly need to see me up there?

He bent down and kissed me. "The sun will be setting in half an hour. Have you ever watched the sunset from up there? There is an unobstructed 360 degree view; you can see the entire city."

I smiled up at him and nodded. "Only if you bring something chocolate; I've had a really tough day and I need something to make it all better."

"Fifteen minutes, something chocolate. I'll be there."

He kissed me again before dashing off to meet Aro. I smiled goofily as I made my way back to my room. I took the quickest shower I'd ever taken and threw my hair up in a ponytail and stuck my hairbrush in my back pocket before running back out the door to meet James. I almost tripped on the staircase and laughed at myself for being so clumsy. I kept my eyes on my feet the rest of the way up so I was startled when I ran into what felt like brick wall.

"Fancy seeing you up here Bella." Cassandra hissed as she gripped the tops of my arms and roughly shook me.

My eyes widened in fear as she backed me toward the top of the stairs.

"They'll kill you Cassandra. If you kill me then James will kill you." I pleaded. Terror was running like ice water through my veins as I desperately tried to think of a way to get away from her unharmed.

"James loves me and the sooner I get rid of you the sooner I can be there to comfort him while he's getting over you. Then he'll realize just how much he really cares about me. **Not you! **He's never really cared about you." She scoffed. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he was ordered to start a relationship with you just so the brothers could keep a closer eye on you."

I had totally underestimated just how far gone Cassandra was. There was no semblance of sanity left in her.

"James only put me down in that dungeon because he was ordered to. I could see how much it hurt him to do it when I looked him in the eyes that night. The whole thing was your fault and now I'm going to get rid of you once and for all so James and I can finally be together. And the brothers will thank me for getting rid of the stupid little human that just wouldn't die!"

"Cassandra please don't do this! You'll regret it if you do." I whimpered.

"I really don't think I will Bella." She laughed insanely. "Even if I'm wrong and they do kill me at least I'll have had the pleasure of getting rid of you first."

I shook my head and stepped backwards at the same moment she shoved me. I went tumbling down the stairs. The pain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; probably because of the adrenalin that was still flooding my system. I held my breath and waited for the crack that would ring through the stairwell when my head split open on one of the stone steps but it never came. I opened my eyes when I stopped bouncing and looked up to see an irate Demetri. He gently sat me down and sprinted up the steps; a few seconds later he came back down shaking his head at me.

"I could smell her but she was already gone, sorry Bella. James is going to kill me."

"No he won't. I won't let him. Besides he should be grateful that you were here to save me." I reassured him as soon as I was able to speak again.

"Oh shit. Here he comes." Demetri sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Bella, what are you doing down here? I thought you were going to wait for me upstairs." James smiled at me.

I threw myself into his arms and clung to him. Cassandra has almost succeeded in killing me this time and I was still shaken up. James and Demetri had a silent conversation for a minute before Demetri sighed and started speaking.

"I was on my way to the throne room when I passed by the stairs. I heard Cassandra talking to someone then I heard Bella falling down the stairs. I caught Bella and made sure that she was alright then I went to catch Cassandra but she was already gone. I'm sorry James I could smell her but she was long gone by the time I got up there."

The silence was almost deafening and the murderous look on James's face scared me. Finally he met Demetri's eyes.

"Don't you have guard duty tonight?" He barked.

"James! He saved me; you should be grateful. If he hadn't caught me then I would have broken my neck."

"It's okay Bella. I should have caught Cassandra; he has every right to be upset with me." Demetri said softly, refusing to look at either one of us in the eye.

"Don't be ridiculous D! There's nothing you could have done differently. So; James is going to apologize for being an unreasonable ass."

I crossed my arms and glared at James. He took a deep breath and muttered a rushed and completely insincere 'sorry' before picking me up and starting back up the stairs.

"Where are we going?"

"She's not going to ruin one of the few nights we have left together before you have to leave; unless you don't feel up to it?"

He looked worriedly down at me as he settled me on a blanket in front of one of the floor to ceiling windows then sat next to me.

"I'm fine I guess. I'll just be a little bruised tomorrow. Why won't the brothers do anything about her? Why do they let her keep hurting me?" I knew that I was whining but I couldn't help it Cassandra was really starting to scare me.

"I don't know Tesoro but I won't let her hurt you again; I promise." James whispered as he pressed his lips against my hair.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Hershey's bar. "I bet you thought I'd forgotten."

I smiled and took the candy bar from him. "Thank you James; I'm going to miss you so much when I'm gone. I hate that I have to leave you."

"I hate it too; more than I can say. But when you come back you'll be changed and we'll be together for eternity. Then no one will be able to take you away from me again."

His sounded so unsure of himself that it almost broke my heart. I still wasn't sure what I thought about the whole 'mates for life' thing but I wasn't going to leave him worrying that he would lose me. This was going to be hard enough on both of us without his crazy idea that I was going to fall in love with one of the Cullen's and never come back.

"Don't worry baby, it's only for a few months." I smoothed his hair back so I could see his eyes. "I'm not going to forget about you and I'm not going to find someone else while I'm gone."

"You better not. Now shut up and watch."

He kissed me before turning my head toward the window; he pulled the brush out of my pocket and took the elastic out of my hair. I relaxed back into him while he gently brushed my hair as we watched the sunset. The sky was a gorgeous burnt orange color with streaks of red, pink and gold. The dark blue of the night sky was just starting to appear when James spoke again.

"Aro and I have decided that your training is done. We've taught you everything that we can and we're afraid that we've been working you too hard. The next two weeks are yours to do whatever you want."

"Wait. I'm not ready! I need more; I can't possibly go and spy on a whole coven of vampires only having the training that I've had so far."

I was panicking and James was desperately trying to calm me down by running his hands up and down my arms and shushing me.

"Bella, you're going to be fine. We've taught you everything that we can. Don't you want time to spend with everyone without having to worry about training? I promise that I would never send you out on a mission without being fully prepared."

I knew he was right but I still felt like I was completely unprepared. I took deep breaths until I got myself under control again. James held me and whispered reassurances in my ear as we watched the stars appear one by one. When it was totally dark and we could see millions of stars James silently removed my clothes and slipped inside of me. When he rolled us over so that I was on top of him I caught a flash of dark curly hair before it disappeared down the stairs. I looked down at James to see why he hadn't smelled her but he was totally lost in guiding my hips that he seemed not to notice anything else around him. I didn't say anything; I didn't want to let Cassandra ruin yet another moment for James and I tonight. Besides a thrill ran through me at the thought of her seeing just how much James loved me. Just in case she hadn't really left I made sure to moan extra loud. It probably wasn't a good idea to intentionally antagonize a psycho but my loud moans had ignited something in James and pretty soon the exaggerated moaning turned into real screaming.

--------------------

"So Bella, are you excited to do the whole high school thing like a normal human?" Laurent asked as I shoved another bite of my birthday cake into my mouth.

I snorted. "When have I ever been a normal human L?"

Everyone laughed.

"Seriously though, aren't you a little bit excited to be going somewhere new? Some place outside of the castle?" Sasha asked as she aimed at the red ball on the pool table. I don't know why she was even bothering since everyone knew that Jane would beat her anyways.

"I guess I am a little excited but I'm going to miss you guys so much! How long do you think they'll make me stay?"

"As long as it takes." James mocked Caius's deadpan voice almost perfectly.

I picked up one of the books Alec had given me and threw it at his head making everyone laugh again.

"We don't know Bells but we'll be there to get you as soon as the brothers will let us." James brought my book back over to me and kissed me before going back to his video game.

We were leaving for Forks the next day so we were trying to make the best of our last night together. James, Sasha, Laurent, Demetri and Felix were all coming with me to Seattle but only Sasha would be joining me in Forks. She would only be there long enough to implant false memories and ideas in my new 'father's' head and then I would be alone until Aro sent for me. I prayed that I wouldn't have to be there long but realistically I knew that I would have to be there for at least a few months. I had studied all the information that James had gathered for me on the Cullen's which wasn't a whole hell of a lot but I guess every little bit helped. I was kind of excited to meet these strange vampires and of course being the typical stupid human I wasn't the least bit frightened of them.

After a few more games of pool and foosball, I suspiciously won every single game; James made me go to bed even though I didn't want to. He showered with me and washed my hair and body like I was a goddess to be worshiped. Then he helped me finish packing.

"I really think you need to pack those pajamas that you're wearing Bella." James grinned at me as he lifted the tank top over my head. "I wouldn't want you to forget your favorite sleep clothes now would I?"

"Yeah, like that's really the reason you're trying to get me naked right now." I giggled.

"Can't blame a guy for trying." He sighed.

"You don't have to try. You know you can have me whenever you want me." I whispered.

Rising up on my tiptoes I sucked his earlobe between my teeth and bit down gently making him hiss and toss me onto the bed. He leapt on top of me and started tickling me mercilessly until I had tears rolling down my cheeks. As I dried my face James slowly slid my pants down and tossed them onto my overflowing suitcase.

"I hate that we're missing our island vacation this year." I ran my hands through his hair as real tears started to form in the corners of my eyes.

"So do I; next year I'll make sure that we get an extra two weeks just me and you alone on the island."

"Promise?"

"I promise; I love you Bella."

"I love you too James."

After making love several times it still took me forever to go to sleep and for the first time in years I dreamed of the feeding room.

_I was huddled next to the door, making myself as small as I could and trying not to look at the carnage that was surrounding me. All of my friends were standing around the room laughing at me as Cassandra bent over me and sank her teeth into my throat. James was standing right behind her smiling lovingly down at her and holding her hair back so that the blood that was gushing from my neck wouldn't get in it. When she was done drinking he pulled her up and kissed her._

"_I love you Cassandra. I don't know what I ever saw in such a pathetic human." He sneered down at me._

_Aro appeared at my side and shook his head at me. _

"_I had such high hopes for you Isabella. It is really a shame that you failed at such a simple assignment. All you had to do was collect information and you could not even do that."_

I was screaming when James shook me awake.

"Bella, it's okay! It's alright Tesoro I've got you. I was only a dream."

"James; please don't every leave me!" I sobbed.

"Never! I'll never leave you Isabella; you're my mate, it would kill me to lose you."

I had stopped screaming but I couldn't stop crying. The dream was so real and still so fresh in my mind that I was having trouble not believing it. I knew that James was dying to know what my dream was about but I couldn't force the words out of my mouth to tell him about it. No doubt he would grill me on it first thing in the morning; I could only hope that I wouldn't remember it when I woke up again. Eventually I cried myself back to sleep with James holding me tightly.

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	17. Chapter 17

**AN: S****o sorry this took forever!! I am sad to write about Bella leaving and honestly couldn't get my head into it. Then I got busy. I hope this is what you all imagined. Thanks** **~Laura~**

"God damn, piece of shit, mother fucker!"

I tossed Bella's mattress across the room with the rest of her sheets and pillows just as Demetri came through the door.

"Woah! What are you doing? We have to go, like ten minutes ago."

His speech slowed as his eyes wandered across the trashed room.

"I lost the necklace Bella got me. It must have fallen off last night and now I can't fucking find it."

I ran a frantic hand through my hair and scanned the floor again. Where the hell could it be?

"I'm sorry James but you're going to have to look for it later. We have to go. Now."

He was right. I'd already sent Bella on to the limo so I could look without her knowing but I'd run out of time. All I could do was hope to God that she didn't notice it was missing. After her night mare the night before the last thing I wanted her to do was doubt my loyalty to her; and not wearing the most important thing she'd ever given me was bound to freak her out. Her nerves were already frayed, she'd broken down crying when Alec and Jane had come to say good-bye and it had took me at least fifteen minutes to calm her down.

After I'd finally gotten her to tell me about the dream and I reassured her with every bit of energy I could that there was no way in hell I could ever change my mind about being with her. There were no words to explain what her being my mate meant. It would be physically impossible for me to love another woman at this point. Once she'd calmed down and gone to the bathroom to get ready the first thing I did was reach up to hold my fucking necklace, just to find that it was fucking gone! No time left to look now though.

We ran through the halls and towards the waiting limos so we could take my baby to the air port and put her on a plane, then send her half way across the fucking world to live with a bunch of strange vampires. Fuck. This was so wrong.

I settled into the seat and Bella instantly snuggled up against me, placing one hand on my chest. Of course; because that was the one place I didn't want her to touch.

"Oh, I forgot."

Bella reached into her pocket and pulled out my necklace.

"This was under the pillow this morning. It must have fallen off last night."

"Thanks baby."

It felt like someone had lifted a fucking building off my shoulders at the sight of the shiny little pendant. I took the necklace from her and placed a quick kiss on the top of her head. It was probably better that I didn't tell her I'd torn her room apart looking for it. I'd have time to clean it up before she got home anyway.

The drive to the air port wasn't nearly long enough. Our limo sped through the dark streets and into Aro's private hanger before the sky even began to change colors. It was still ink black when we all began to board the small jet that would take us to Seattle, Washington. I ran a hand through Bella's hair, enjoying the way it shined in the moonlight. After decades of being on this Earth months were nothing to me anymore, so why did it feel like Bella was going to be gone for an eternity?

I followed her onto the small jet and found a seat next to the window. Bella and Sasha were having some last minute conversation about what would happen when we landed. I tuned it out because I didn't want to think about that shit. Bella dropped into the seat next to me after a few minutes and leaned into my shoulder.

Demetri and Felix sat across from us while Sasha and Laurent took up the rear. Our usual happy crowd was noticeably somber as we gained altitude.

"Do you want to switch places so you can see out the window?"

I'd already offered the seat to Bella three times but she kept refusing. She shook her head no again.

"I told you. There is nothing out there I want to see. Everything worth looking at is right here."

Tears made her brown eyes glisten and her chin scrunched up as she fought to hold them back.

"Aaww, baby. Don't cry."

I pulled her into my lap and kissed the tears that were sprinkling her cheeks. Bella took a deep breath and laughed at herself.

"Sorry, I can't help it. I just hate that I don't even know when I'll get to come back."

"I know me too. But I promise, as soon as Aro gives the orders my pale ass is going to be in Washington to pick you up; even if I have to swim there."

She smiled and closed her eyes, leaning her head on my shoulder. I was going to miss this shit so much. Just like the limo ride the flight was going way too fucking fast. The plane began its descent without Bella even noticing. Sasha gave me a sad smile, she obviously knew what I was thinking; our farewell would come entirely too soon.

"Bella, open your eyes. We've landed."

Bella shot up in my lap surprised to be on the ground.

"What?"

Her hair stuck to the side of her face and her eyes were wide and frantic.

"I said we've landed. It's time to go."

I kissed her forehead and smoothed out her hair, trying to make each moment last just a little longer.

"Oh, all right."

She slowly stood up and stretched her legs. We all filed out of the plane without saying much. I waited for Bella to say good-bye to everyone else first. I swear to shit Felix would have been bawling like a baby if he had any fucking tears in him. And of course Demetri tried to remind Bella of every fucking thing we tried to teach her during her training in the span of thirty seconds. Bella just smiled and gave him a hug. Even Laurent looked worried.

Fuck. The Cullen's were supposed to be peaceful, so why was everyone so fucking freaked out? Because we knew what it was like. No matter what your ideals are, the scent of blood can make you do crazy shit. All it would take was for one of those assholes to fall off the wagon and my girl would be dust.

I waited for everyone else to re-board the plane before scooping Bella up into my arms. Sasha had discretely found her way to the waiting town car so we could have our privacy.

"Let's go. Right now… Just run away."

Bella's forehead was pressed against mine and I closed my eyes while listening to her talk. I could just imagine the sad smile on her perfect lips.

"All right. Where should we go princess?"

I would play along with this for as long as I could, even though we both knew in a few moments she'd be getting in the car and driving away from me.

"How about Vegas? The people there supposedly stay up all night. We could lie in bed all day then party all night! No worrying about sparkles."

"And all the Showgirls I can eat right?"

Bella giggled and playful smacked my shoulder.

"Right…"

There was a long silence where I just listened to her breathing, slow a steady. How long would it be before I got to listen to it again? If I'd known that having a mate meant being in physical pain just from the thought of being apart, I never would have allowed myself to fall for Bella. Shit. Who am I kidding? There was no fighting this.

"I'll think about you every day, all day."

She was whispering now, the tears leaking out the edges of her closed eyes. Fuck, I wish I knew what to say to make her feel better…

"Especially in the shower."

I tried to joke but she didn't even giggle.

"I'll be thinking about you too baby."

"Promise me that things will go back to normal once I come home. Please. I need to know this isn't the end. That I have something to come home too, that my family will still be there…"

"I promise. They'll be even better. We'll be even better. No matter what happens, I will always be there Bella."

She kissed me softly; I could taste the salty tears on her lips.

"You have to go now."

"I know."

I gently set her down and placed my hands on both sides of her face.

"What if I look different when I come back? I'm going to age you know."

"You could come back as an eighty year old woman and I'd still love you just as much as I do now."

She snorted and raised an eye brow at me.

"Swear?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

I smirked down at her and dodged the hand she lifted to smack me.

"Seriously though; nothing could ever stop me loving you. Now go, before Sasha does something weird to me."

Bella turned to walk away and I smacked her butt one last time. Damn, I should have taken some naughty pictures of her before she left. My memory would never do that ass justice no matter how good it was.

She turned and waved one last time before disappearing into the dark car. I watched them pull out of the hanger and out into the foggy morning. If there was a God, even one who was so messed up as to make creatures who suck the life out of humans and live forever; I prayed to him to bring my Bella back to me safely.

**AN:** **Well guys we're sorry to say that this is the last chapter of Fate or Chance but there will be an epilogue it might take us awhile but we will get it done for you!! Thank you so much to all our loyal readers who have stuck with us since the beginning! Put us on Author Alert if you like us; we might be writing a sequel to To Belong this fall! Don't forget to review! We still love hearing from all of you!!! ~quickbunny~**


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